The Congress party on Tuesday said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has no right to claim that the menace of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) has reduced in Jharkhand under their regime as the number of affected districts has increased from four to 19 in 16 years of BJP rule here.
Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Khunti, Congress party’s Executive President Rajesh Thakur on Tuesday said, “The Prime Minister has disappointed all those people of Jharkhand who were waiting for his speech with baited breath. He addressed a rally in Khunti but did not say anything about the future of all the villagers accused of sedition by the Government.”
Thakur accused the Government of making tall promises and claims, but failing to deliver on the ground. “BJP leaders have no right to talk about Left Wing Extremism. Only four districts were LWE-affected at the time of bifurcation of Bihar and Jharkhand. And the number of affected districts has gone up to 19 in 16 years of BJP rule,” he said.
The BJP Government here claims to have pushed the LWE groups on back foot in the past five years. The latest report of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) also backs the claim of the Government. The MHA report says that LWE incidents have reduced from 501 in 2010 to 205 in 2018. However, Jharkhand has witnessed at least two LWE incidents since the announcement of elections here on November 1.
Thakur on Tuesday accused the BJP Government of suppressing the voice of the rural populace on gunpoint and counting it as an achievement. “The BJP used muscle power to suppress protests. It has charged villagers of sedition. We need a reply from the Government on its plans for the people charged with sedition,” he said.
The All India National Congress also released its fifth list of star campaigners on Tuesday. The list includes party bigwigs, including Congress President Sonia Gandhi, former party president Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Rahul Gandhi addressed a rally in Simdega on Monday – his first in Jharkhand since the 2019 General Elections. Rahul is the only member of the Gandhi family to have addressed a rally in Jharkhand during the ongoing polls. While Priyanka Gandhi’s name went missing from the first list of star campaigners here, Sonia Gandhi is yet to pay a visit to Jharkhand this election season.