Jamshedpur: Advocate Kulwinder Singh, National President of Qaumi Sikh Morcha, has dismissed the recent debate on ownership rights of 86 settlements in the Jharkhand Assembly as an out-of-season political issue. Reacting to the matter raised by BJP MLA Purnima Das, he pointed out that this demand has been a recurring theme in every Assembly and Lok Sabha election since 1990, yet no concrete resolution has been achieved.
Singh emphasized that almost 24 years have passed since the formation of Jharkhand, and despite repeated political assurances, the ownership rights issue remains unresolved. He noted that since 1990, barring the 2020 election of Saryu Roy, Jamshedpur has largely remained under BJP’s political influence, and yet successive governments failed to provide a constitutional resolution to this long-standing problem.
Referring to former Chief Ministers Arjun Munda and Raghubar Das, both of whom held office multiple times, Singh questioned what could now be expected from others when these two prominent BJP leaders failed to secure ownership rights for the residents. He criticized the ongoing political blame game regarding the encroachment of Tata leased land, highlighting that all political parties have, in some way, enabled or ignored land encroachments under their respective regimes.
Singh urged politicians to rise above party lines and make an honest and united effort to resolve the issue constitutionally. He suggested that if a sublease arrangement had been incorporated within Tata’s lease, a proper legal framework could have been developed to settle the matter fairly.
“Instead of playing politics over this issue, all parties should come together and find a permanent constitutional solution,” he stated, emphasizing that land rights should not be used as an election gimmick but addressed with genuine intent.
