3 min readRanchiMar 7, 2020 11:02 AM IST
First published on: Mar 7, 2020 at 12:53 AM IST
Before coming to power, Soren had criticised the then BJP government multiple times, especially on social media, over “hunger deaths”.
The Hemant Soren-led JMM government, which made hunger deaths in Jharkhand a key plank of its poll campaign, Thursday told the Assembly that reports of a dozen people dying in the state due to hunger were incorrect. This position was taken by Minister of Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs Rameshwar Oraon in reply to a question by the CPI(ML).
Before coming to power, Soren had criticised the then BJP government multiple times, especially on social media, over “hunger deaths”.
After being elected, his government had said no one would die of hunger in the state. The issue of these deaths had also ben taken up by several Congress leaders, including Jharkhand Congress In-Charge RPN Singh and then JPCC President Ajoy Kumar.
On Thursday, CPI(ML) MLA Vinod Singh asked in the Assembly if it was correct that in the last five years more than a dozen people “died due to hunger and malnutrition” as they did not receive ration through the Public Distribution System. In his reply, Oraon denied it, saying “Aswikaratmak (not correct/not accepted)”.
If the deaths did take place, Singh’s question continued, then does the government intend to give ration and compensation to the families of the deceased? If not, then why?, it concluded.
To this, the reply did not answer on the compensation to the deceased, but went on to explain that the government had achieved 99.6% of the total target of providing ration cards in the state.
In the reply documents of the Jharkhand Assembly, the responses given are: ‘Swikaratmak (correct/accepted)’, ‘Anshik Swikaratmak (partially acceptable)’, ‘Anshik Aswikaratmak (partially unacceptable)’ and ‘Aswikaratmak’.
When contacted, MLA Vinod Singh said: “The government’s answer was opposite of what they had been saying all along. I will raise the issue again.”
Oraon’s phone remained switched off.
On Thursday’s development, Congress Spokesperson Alok Dubey said he was not aware of the reply in the Assembly. “Hunger deaths happened in the state and we have protested over it,” he added.
Rights body Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha, which carried out a fact-finding mission in several deaths, said: “The Jharkhand food minister denied starvation deaths in the last five years. What happened to all the starvation cases that were repeatedly raised by Hemant Soren?”
BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said that Congress and JMM came to power lying to the people. “They repeatedly accused BJP government over hunger deaths and politicised the issue. Now they themselves admitted it (that there was no hunger death). Were they lying then,” he said.
Before coming to power, Soren had criticised the then BJP government multiple times, especially on social media, over “hunger deaths”.
Share
