The Congress-led Centre has opened a Pandora’s Box after granting special status to Seemandhra and set the State on boil. The BJP on Monday said that the party will also hit the streets to demand special status for the State.
Former Chief Minister Arjun Munda told The Pioneer over phone from Delhi that he was the first person to raise the issue at the meeting of National Development Council (NDC), first in 2011 and again in 2012. “Now, it was time to take the issue to its logical conclusion and expose the Congress-led Centre for ignoring Jharkhand,” he maintained.
The two regional parties — AJSU and JVM — have already joined hands together and gave a call for the statewide bandh on March 2 on the special status issue. “We have come together to achieve a common goal,” said JVM chief Babulal Marandi.
Significantly, Chief Minister Hemant Soren, running the Government with the support of the Congress and RJD, was of the view that the State could prosper only if we get our genuine due from the Centre and this does not require the privilege of a special status.
Munda said the Centre first befooled the “backward” states by constituting the Raghuram Rajan committee to define the parameters for granting special status/package and thereafter, it threw the report into the dustbin.
Observing that 19 out of 24 districts in Jharkhand are affected by Naxalism, the former Chief Minister said that ultra left wing extremism has affected development and has also led to loss of property and lives in the State. “So, a comprehensive dose of development is needed which will ensure basic necessities to the people who are already suffering from poverty,” he said.
Munda said, “Jharkhand fulfils all criteria to get the special status. The percentage of temporary houses in rural and urban areas is 19.4 per cent and 74.6 per cent respectively, which is more than those states which have been granted the special status.”
He said that though Jharkhand possesses 40 percent of the total mineral deposits of the country, but the exploitation of minerals has proved to be a curse for the people. “While on the one hand, they face displacement, the overhead dumping extracted out of mining also hits agricultural production. The wastage due to mining also pollutes the water bodies and environment,” he said.
“The number of people who has been displaced far outnumber those who got employed in the industries leading a large section of the youth to join the left wing extremism,” he pointed out.
The former Chief Minister said that the special status was required to correct the injustice having been inflicted since years. “The policy of freight equalization in undivided Bihar not only retarded its industrialisation, but also subsidised the transportation of minerals to other states. The loss of Bihar, in fact, was incurred by the mineral rich Jharkhand, then known as South Bihar. So, depriving Jharkhand of the special treatment will fail to rectify the historical injustice meted out to Jharkhand region,” he said.
The other indicators which entitle Jharkhand to get special status included unstable financial position, poor human development indicators and poor infrastructure which fuels productivity.
The former Chief Minister said that the political parties, which are not in favour the State getting special status will be liable to give answers to the electorate in the forthcoming lok Sabha elections.