Opposition parties announce Jharkhand bandh on July 5 against land bill amendment

RANCHI: The opposition parties on Monday announced a

Jharkhand bandh

on July 5 in protest of the President’s approval to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Jharkhand Amendment Bill) 2017.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha

(JMM) working president Hemant Soren declared that the parties will stage a dharna outside Raj Bhawan on June 28 with 50,000 persons and demand governor Droupadi Murmu’s intervention in rollback of the bill. The dharna outside Raj Bhawan will be preceded by dharnas at every block on June 25.

“It will be a Maha-Bandi on July 5. The strike will be for 24 hours across Jharkhand. But the emergency services will be kept out of it,” Soren said at his residence in Kanke Road. Soren, the leader of opposition in

Jharkhand

Assembly, was speaking to reporters after chairing over a meeting of opposition parties. The parties met to decide their future course of action against the Raghubar Das government over the bill’s passage. Jharkhand Congress president Ajoy Kumar, JVM-P general secretary Bandhu Tirkey, CPI veteran Bhuvaneshwar Kumar Mehta, social activists Vasavi Kiro and

Dayamani Barla

were present at the meeting.

“A challenge has been thrown at us (by the state government) and we have accepted it. We will go all out. This will be Aar Paar ki ladai (decisive battle),” Soren said. When questioned, he added: “We met the President and requested him to not sign the bill before. If needed, we will meet him again.”