Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) National Spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi came down heavily on the Congress party and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Saturday, accusing the former of attempting to influence voting on gunpoint and the latter of using the tribal community as mere vote bank.
“The brandishing of pistol by Congress’ candidate KN Tripathi in Daltonganj during polls shows the actual characteristic of the party. Such practices happened in olden days when booths were captured on gunpoint. Such an incident in a democratic structure is unwarranted and shocking,” Lekhi said while addressing media persons at the BJP headquarters in Ranchi.
Videos of Tripathi brandishing a pistol at Koshiyara polling booth in Chainpur block of Daltonganj Assembly surfaced online on Saturday morning. Congress and BJP workers clashed at the booth after the latter reportedly stopped Tripathi from entering the booth during polls. Tripathi later justified his behavior as an act of self-defence – that he was protecting himself from the fury of an enraged mob of BJP supporters.
After flaying Tripathi for his “unsolicited” behavior, Lekhi mocked JMM’s Executive President Hemant Soren over his alleged remarks on how his party was only relying on tribal voters. “Hemant Soren says that his party only wants votes of tribal voters. He should tell the people of Jharkhand what all he has done for the welfare of tribesmen during his tenure as the Chief Minister,” Lekhi said.
The vocal New Delhi MP –one of the star campaigners for the BJP in Jharkhand—said that after Soren’s statement, his party will neither get votes of tribal voters nor non-tribal voters. “The JMM has only filled its own closet in the name of tribal welfare. Hemant Soren had scraped a tribal language from the JPSC (Jharkhand Public Service Commission) when he was the CM. It is unscrupulous how he is trying to play the tribal card for political mileage,” said Lekhi.
Counting the achievements of the Raghubar Das-led BJP Government in Jharkhand, she said that had the JMM worked for tribal welfare, there would not be any need for the BJP Government to provide over 1 lakh employment opportunities in the past five years. “As many as 6,29,535 houses were constructed under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in Jharkhand. Over 40 lakh women here received free LPG connection and more than 20 lakh women were provided means of livelihood,” she said.
Taking a jibe at the Congress party, Lekhi said that the Congress party raised slogans of ‘Gareebi Hatao’ (eradicate poverty) and then sidelined the poor after coming to power in India and other States. The ruling BJP is faced against a tripartite alliance of JMM, Congress party and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Jharkhand. A five-phase election for the 81 Assembly constituencies here began on Saturday amidst strict security arrangements.