The State Assembly witnessed yet another day of ruckus on several issues, including land acquisition when Chief Minister Raghubar Das and Opposition leader Hemant Soren exchanged heated arguments against each other on land grabbing. The two senior leaders called each other plunderers of tribal land, while the ruling and the Opposition party members kept raising the decibel in support of their leaders.
The concluding day of the Monsoon session began with clamour when the Opposition raised the school merger issue. JMM working president Hemant Soren said that at one hand, schools were being closed, while on the other hand, colleges and new universities were being opened. If students do not find schools, how they will attend the college, he asked.
Supporting the argument, JVM’s Pradeep Yadav said that 1,600 schools have already been closed and now the government is planning to close another 7,000 schools. Next year 7,000 more schools will be closed and 4,500 schools have been declared illegal and closed, which is affecting education of 16 lakh kids of the State, he said. If this continues then the education system of the State will be totally disturbed, he added.
Amid uproar over the school merger issue CM Raghubar Das targeted Hemant Soren and said that the person who looted the State most, violated the CNT Act most, is talking about “Jal, Jungle and Jameen (Water, Forest and land)”. Das said that he (Soren) had done 33 registry of land in a single day. “Does anyone can show another house of mine except the one that I haveIJ” he asked.
Pradeep Yadav requested the CM to put his points politely in the House but was scolded by the CM and the Opposition party members started shouting slogans and protested against the Government.
leader Hemant Soren replied to CM saying that the latter’s forefathers were grabbing land in Jharkhand. He said that a non resident CM is destroying the State just like Md Gazhni, who plundered the country. A nonresident CM is taking decisions and why the House is silent, he asked. Amid much hullabaloo Speaker Dinesh Oraon adjourned the House till 2 PM.
When the House reassembled after the break disturbance continued over Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University proposal. Hemant Soren said that the government is not allotting land for the university and it is clear that it wants to delay the proposal. The Government thinks only in the interest of feudal forces, industrialists and the rich. It is against the poor, tribals and dalits, he said.
Responding to the issue, the CM said that the Opposition should have the courage to listen to the truth. “They have kept the minority classes only as a vote bank and that is why the condition of minorities has remained the same since several years. The university will certainly be set up by the year 2022,” said the CM.
The JMM MlAs staged a walkout after the spat over universities, while JVM’s Pradeep Yadav also went outside the House after failing to get an apology from CM for his alleged unparliamentarily behaviour. The House continued in the presence of ruling party, Congress, left parties and independent MlAs.
After Opposition’s walkout, the House passed Jharkhand Finance Bill 2018, Netaji Subhash University Bill 2018, Ramchandra Chandravanshi University Bill 2018, Jharkhand Rai University Amendment Bill 2018, Ram Krishna Dharmarth Foundation University Bill 2018 and Jharkhand Education Tribunal Amendment Bill 2017.
The Rai University Amendment Bill attracted ire of the ruling party MlAs as SN Tiwari and RK Kishore raised issues of irregularities conducted by private universities in the State. However, CM Raghubar Das and HRD Minister Neera Yadav assured the House that the government will form a panel to probe into the irregularity charges and will not tolerate corruption in any form. The House was adjourned sine die by Speaker Dinesh Oraon.