Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren accuses BJP of communal flare-up to win polls, criticise ‘one nation, one election’ proposal 

Ranchi, September 18: Chief Minister Hemant Soren has accused the BJP of inciting communal tensions across India, urging people to reject the ‘political vultures’ striving to create a separate state by combining parts of Jharkhand, Bihar, and Bengal. He was speaking at a function in Jamtara on Wednesday.

Soren specifically targeted Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP co-incharge for Jharkhand assembly polls, labeling him as an ‘imported leader’ intent on destabilizing the state’s social fabric. Soren alleged that BJP’s ‘Parivartan Yatra’ is intended to stoke communal discord ahead of the upcoming assembly elections.

Soren also sided with the opposition, raising questions on the NDA government’s One Nation One Election proposal which got the nod of the Union’s cabinet on Wednesday.

He said that it has been learnt that One Nation, One Election has been approved. They want only one party to rule the country. There should always be only one government. Be it the country or the state. These people are trying to spoil the communal harmony for ruling the country.

“We all need to be cautious. Elections are going to be held in two-three months. We have to take care that tension does not spread in the communal harmony. Even in the Lok Sabha elections, when these people did Hindu-Muslim politics, people belittled them. The result was that they needed crutches to form the government,”  said Soren.

Accusing the BJP of fostering communal tension across the country, Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Wednesday said the time has come to throw the “political vultures” that want to create a separate state with parts of Jharkhand into the “sea of Gujarat”.

Without naming Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, one of the BJP’s in-charge for Jharkhand, Soren called him an “imported leader”, and alleged he was going all out to destroy the social fabric of the state.

“These political vultures of BJP now want to create a separate state by combining Santhal Pargana, and (parts of) Bihar and Bengal. Such people need to be packed in a sack and thrown into the sea of Gujarat. On one side there is a group of capitalists, on the other side there are the poor… They will be given a befitting reply for their conspiracies,” he said while addressing a function in Jamtara.

 Claiming that a “gang from Gujarat” was hell-bent on fostering communal tension across the country, Soren alleged they sowed the seeds of hate by “importing” leaders from other states.

Soren attacked the BJP’s proposed ‘Parivartan Yatra’ ahead of the assembly elections, and claimed that it would be used to instigate communal discord.

“They would travel from village to village and panchayat to panchayat to propagate the notion that Hindus are under threat. They will create divisions among Hindus and Muslims as well as between tribal and non-tribal communities to incite conflict,” he alleged.

Soren claimed the BJP did “Hindu-Muslim politics” during the Lok Sabha polls, resulting in a significant setback.

He claimed similar results in the assembly elections in the state due later this year.

The CM said his government was working to provide 20 lakh houses under its Abua Awas scheme, and as the elections were approaching, the Centre promised 1.5 lakh houses to the poor of Jharkhand.

“Twenty lakh people were left out of the central scheme… BJP has no answer to it. This is the group of businessmen who will not provide money to the poor and rather indulge in increasing prices to take money from your pocket,” he said.

The CM unveiled 298 projects worth over Rs 500 crore for Jamtara and Dumka districts and interacted with beneficiaries of the Jharkhand Mukhyamantri Maiyan Samman Yojana.