Political parties on Saturday condemned the firing incident and said that efforts made by the Government to foil Adivasi Akrosh Maharally called by more than 40 tribal organizations where people coming from different parts of the state towards Ranchi were stopped on their way by the police in the name of maintaining peace in the region was draconian.
Principal Opposition party Jharkhand Mukti Morcha demanded judicial probe into the incident and also demanded a compensation of Rs 25 for the family members of the deceased and Rs 10 lakh each for those who got injured in the incident.
Criticizing the incident, JMM also demanded Home Minister Rajnath Singh to dismiss Chief Minister Raghubar Das immediately and lodge a case against him under sections 302 and 120B of IPC.
The Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee condemned the State Government’s move to stop people from taking part in the rally and said that it was abusing the basic rights incurred in the Constitution of India.
“The State Government has not been taking decisions in public interest and wants to impose the agenda which is in the interest of the corporate houses” said JPCC Spokesperson lal Kishore Nath Shahdeo. When people want to oppose it in the form for movement, they try to crush it with the help of police force, he added.
“Earlier, police firing was done on the villagers in Badkagaon to crush the movement and today firing was done again on the people who were coming to Ranchi to take part in the rally. We condemn it strongly and also express grief towards the family members of the person who died in the incident,” said Shahdeo. Condemning the incident, PCC Secretary Aditya Vikram Jaiswal said that the actions of police were worse than those of the British during the empirical rule.
The CPI (M), criticising the high-handedness of Raghubar Das government for obstructing the rally organized by different Tribal organizations by setting up barricades at different places in and around Ranchi and resorting to indiscriminate firing today at Khunti, the left parties demanded Judicial Enquiry headed by sitting High Court Judge and exemplary punishment of those responsible for the incident.
“It is remarkable that within last two months, the police resorted to indiscriminate firing at Gola, Barkagaon (Hazaribagh) and Khunti causing death of two, four and one villager respectively, who were protesting against government policies of forcible land acquisition and attempt to amend CNT and SPT acts,” said a press release issued by the party.
Meanwhile, former CM and senior BJP leader Arjun Munda called the incident as very unfortunate and said that such types of incidents send a wrong message to the people.