Even though Chief Minister Hemant Soren has called an all-party meeting on June 26 inviting suggestions from the political parties for reaching on a consensus paving way for tabling the bill in the next Assembly session, it appears a daunting task for him to sail through the process of reaching a consensus on the controversial issue.
Political parties of the state are reluctant to comment on it without going through each and every details of the draft prepared by a 11-member committee.
“There are apprehensions regarding several issues relating to the people of the state which, we are trying to address to within the provisions of the Constitution of India and trying to define the domicile policy for the state taking everyone into confidence,” said Soren on Tuesday. An all party meeting has been called on June 26 to reach out to a common consensus, he added.
The Opposition however, wants the State Government to first make the draft available to them so that a conclusion could be reached on the issue. “We have been saying continuously to provide us a copy of the draft to the political parities so that a view could be created on the issue but the govt seems to be in a hurry to discuss it keeping us in the dark” said BJP Spokesperson Pradeep Sinha.
Other parties, more or less are of the same view as they were not willing to comment on the issue. “It will be too early to comment on the issue as we have not gone through the draft, only after going through it we can say anything about it,” said Jharkhand Vikas Morcha legislature Party leader Pradeep Yadav.
The AJSU Party was also of the view that it can say anything only after a thorough discussion in All Party Meeting. “let the meeting take place first on June 26 only after that we will be able to answer your questions regarding the domicile policy.
Opposition parties, on the other hand, claimed the draft to be an eyewash, prepared in a haste in order to take credit for making available grade III and IV jobs to the ‘Moolwasi’ only.
“It has been planned in such a way that the credit of guarantee to jobs in grade III and IV goes to the ruling coalition which could never be implemented due to the imposition of moral code of conduct in the next 2-3 months,” said a BJP leader requesting anonymity. Moreover, there is no consensus among the parties in the ruling alliance, he added.
Referring to the shortcomings in the recommendations, he said that the spectrum of the draft policy needs to be widened without coming under the influence of pressure groups that are quite active in the State.
The Domicile Committee formed by Soren in December last year headed by the Minister Rajendra Singh submitted its report on June 11. The draft has sparked a fresh controversy by recommending 1985 as cut-off year to obtain a ‘Jharkhandi’ tag for an individual. The committee has also recommended that only ‘Moolwasi’ (local) will be eligible for grade III and IV jobs in the State, according to sources.