At a press conference on Saturday, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren lashed out at the BJP’s “infiltration” narrative and said the party would be “beaten in the state”. Soren hit out at Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav’s recent statement at a rally in Ranchi that Soren’s JMM government has turned Ranchi into “Pakistan’s Karachi”. He also made an apparent reference to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s “batenge to katenge (divided we fall)” remarks as well. “The ‘Ranchi, Karachi’ comment… These people (BJP) are intellectual people and have learnt a lot of things… We are not divided, and we will not be divided. This (Jharkhand) election, these people (the BJP) will surely be beaten.” In its campaign, the BJP has been raising the issue of the “Bangladeshi infiltrators” allegedly marrying tribal women, buying land and usurping jobs meant for locals, especially in the tribal-dominated Santhal Pargana region comprising six districts. They are: Dumka, Jamtara, Godda, Sahebganj, Pakur and Deoghar. Asked about its ally Congress’s campaign for the Jharkhand polls, Soren said: “Not all fingers of the hand are the same”. He added that their coalition partner was doing things as “per their own capability”. Soren also spoke of the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing it of being “biased” especially in the episode involving his proposer Mandal Murmu who joined the BJP. On October 27, Mandal Murmu’s vehicle was chased and stopped by the Giridih police. It was followed by his brief detention. He was reportedly accompanied by a few leaders of the BJYM, the BJP’s youth wing. They were soon allowed to leave. The JMM then alleged that it was a case of Murmu’s “abduction”. Murmu went on to join the BJP days later. “People view things according to their own inclination. I think this (BJP trying to induct Mandal Murmu) was wrong. There is a justice system . People can go there to seek justice,” said the CM. On the recent IT raids at the premises of his Personal Secretary Sunil Shrivastav, the CM said the Centre was committing “excesses”. “Before 2014, there was never a case of agencies raiding any political party or leaders’ residence.”
