As Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s statement on domicile policy in the State has initiated a fresh debate, politicians cutting across the party are keeping away with him to avoid courting controversy. Former Deputy Chief Minister and AJSU party Chief Sudesh Mahto on Sunday said that nothing more could be expected by the Government formed for such a short period.
“With Soren being a double speaker, one cannot expect too much from him as CM. Moreover, the Government was formed for a short period of 16 months without any aim,” said Mahto. Mahto was talking to the media in Dhanbad before heading towards Baliapur to take part in a party’s program.
Soren, a day after winning the crucial vote of confidence, had made it clear that he will not back out on his stand on defining the long-pending domicile policy of the State. He, however, later corrected his statement saying the decision will be taken only after taking the other coalition partners like the Congress and the RJD into confidence.
Similarly the Congress, a key ally of the newly-formed Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led Hemant Soren Government, does not agree with his statement. Senior Congress leader Radha Krishna Kishore termed Soren’s statement as his personal one which is JMM’s strategy to grab more and more votes. “The Congress does not agree with it,” he said. “The Congress believes in social harmony rather than dividing it on trivial issues. This is just to trigger the sentiments of voters of some particular class towards JMM,” said Kishore.
According to Kishore, one cannot talk of the document, which has not been updated since 1932. If the Government is really concerned about providing employment to the poor, it should announce the fourth grade vacancies of over one lakh which are still vacant in the various departments. “In spite of talking on such trivial issues, the Government should first advertise those vacancies,” added Kishore.
The BJP also calls it a move to trap JMM’s vote bank as the State is heading towards elections very fast. “This is just an effort to trigger the sentiments of the people on such trivial issues, which are not in the interest of the State,” said BJP spokesperson Pradeep Sinha.Sinha also said that Soren did not even raise the issue when he was a part of the three-member committee to look into the domicile issue formed by the former Chief Minister Arjun Munda along with Sudesh Mahto and Baidyanath Ram. “Despite two meetings held by the committee, no decision was taken by it,” claimed Sinha.
Soren, during a Press conference on Friday, had said that those whose names figure in the official land records of Jharkhand are Jharkhandis. Significantly, the issue of domicile has been the bone of contention between the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and other parties. But Soren on Sunday reiterated that consultations would be held with political parties before finalising on domicile policy in the State.