Raghubar Das Accuses Jharkhand Government of Violating Tribal Rights Under PESA

Ranchi: Former Jharkhand chief minister and senior BJP leader Raghubar Das on Wednesday alleged that the state’s tribal society is deprived of its rights by non implementation of PESA rules even though CM Hemant Soren is a tribal.

According to Das, the Constitution of India gives constitutional rights to the tribal, Dalit, deprived and exploited society. But the Congress-JMM-RJD govt, which invokes the Constitution, is today violating the constitutional rights of the tribals and backward classes of the state.

Addressing media at party office, he said, “After the BJP govt, the Hemant govt sent the opinion received from the departments to the law department. Further, the advocate general also paved way to take it to the cabinet, but due to the unclear intention, this govt is keeping it hanging.”

The law gives the ‘Gram Sabha’ of the notified area the right to manage minor minerals, sand, stone excavation, auction, fish farming in ponds, Kendu leaves, and so on, the senior BJP leader said.

“This is the reason why the high court on Tuesday had also given instructions on sand ‘ghat’ auction in view of this spirit," he said, welcoming the decision of the court. “I urge the court to continue this ban till the PESA law is implemented in the state," Das said, alleging the govt of hindering implementation of PESA due to its own vested interest.

Das also hit out at the govt for not conducting municipal elections so far in the state. “Hemant govt does not want the development of villages or cities. By not conducting municipal elections, the govt is depriving Jharkhand of the central grant of Rs 1,800 crore every year and due to non-implementation of PESA, the state is incurring a loss of 1,400 crore,” he claimed.

Reacting to the barbs, Congress’s spokesperson Rakesh Sinha said, “Ousted from power, the entire BJP is now engaged in misleading the tribal society and taking political advantage of them by levelling baseless allegations. Why did Raghubar Das govt didnt implement PESA when it was in power between 2014-19? He must answer that first.” JMM’s general secretary Vinod Pandey added, “It was during this same Raghubar govt when chunks of land belonging to tribals and poor were snatched to benefit corporates. Now when people have rejected them, they are accusing others.”