Ranchi: Even as the Jharkhand Chief Minister tried hard to convince the oppressed Adivasis and displacement victims of the state about his commitment to solve their woes yesterday, various political parties came together to criticize him for his remarks on extremism.
Lambasting the CM for saying that he may someday not hesitate to pick up a gun for his rights, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha president and former CM said, �It cannot be more unfortunate than the fact that the CM has expressed his frustration and inefficacy in such a manner. Being the executive head of the state government, it is so unbecoming of him to say that he will take arms into his hands to fight the injustice or under-development in the state. If a CM says these words, one can just imagine how helpless the people of the state may have found themselves.�
Marandi alleged that Soren was either trying to fool the Adivasis of the state or merely trying to ingratiate himself with the Naxalites. He said the CM was making such statements in a bid to prove himself the greatest well-wisher of the Adivasis just before the Assembly elections.
�When I was sitting on dharna for 22 days in Panchuwara of Amrapara for the rights of coal mine displacement victims, the state government was being run by BJP-JMM alliance. Arjun Munda was the CM while Hemant Soren was the deputy CM then. The indiscriminate mining continued under the very nose of the then government. The government did not give anything to the displacement victims. Also the government issued lease rights for three iron ore mines just before the Lok Sabha elections this year. How can then the government show its sincerity towards solving the problems of the Adivasis,� said the JVM leader.
Assailing the CM on the same lines, state BJP president Dr Ravindra Kumar Rai said the CM should make it clear as to who was he intending to shoot with the gun which he was ready to lift in his hands. �The CM has cut a sorry figure by saying that he may take to violent means by taking arms in his hands the way some of our misguided and exploited Adivasi brethren have been doing. Being the leader of the government, he should not have made such an irresponsible statement in the public. This has sent a wrong message among the people, especially those vulnerable to lures of Naxalites,� he said.