The issue of Adivasi rights has been an emotional issue that gave birth to mass leaders. Mandar MlA and Trinamool Congress’s candidate for Ranchi, Bandhu Tirkey is among the leaders, who was born out of the struggle to restore rights of indigenous population over natural assets of Jharkhand. The outspoken tribal leader is now focusing on a balanced approach to development where the rights are not compromised yet the objective is achieved. Excerpts of an interview with The Pioneer
Why should people vote for youIJ
Our leader Mamta didi has given the slogan of Maa (mother), maati (land) and maanush (people). This shows the concern of our party for a common man. She (Mamta) fought for common and disempowered people so are we in Jharkhand through our slogan of jal (water), jangal(forest) and jameen (land). We as a party are more determined for the development of common man, which is obvious from the people centric slogan, and for this reason I believe that we are more close to people than any other party. Moreover, people have seen positive changes in West Bengal under the regime of Trinamool Congress (TMC). It is this ‘unnayan’ (development) in West Bengal that we will bring in here and hope to bring changes in the lives of Adivasis and other deprived sections of the society.
Your party leaders say that Parliamentary election is the semi-final and openly said that the eyes are on Assembly elections. Don’t you think that this undermines the seriousness about the elections on your partIJ
They are right but that doesn’t mean that we are not serious about parliamentary elections. Yes, lok Sabha elections are like semi-finals because Assembly elections will be conducted after lS elections and whatever we are doing will be manifested in the assembly elections in a very big way.Having said that, there are some issues that need to be tackled at national level hence we very serious about making our presence felt at national level.
You talked about jameen (land) which incidentally led to several controversies and affected investment in the State. How will strike a balance between the issue of land and development for which you need to provide land to the investing entityIJ
People have never thought of any development model for the State. We will try to evolve a model and prepare a roadmap for development of the State.There has been no exercise in this direction before. We will do that and once that will be done both development and jobs will be addressed at the same time.
You have often talked about issues like domicile policy and Sarna code. Do you thing that these issues are of any importance at national levelIJ
These issues are dear to the people of Jharkhand. Some states have their own domicile policy and we are also trying to formulate a similar policy for Jharkhand.Also, we will make efforts to get the Sarna code passed by Parliament.
Ranchi is turning out to be the toughest seat for anyone to win. What are your chances of winning from the constituency where cast is also a factorIJ
let me tell you one thing, Congress and Bhartiya Janta Party will be wiped out in this election. I will not say anything about TMC’s performance at this point of time. I have kept my fingers crossed.