BJP wants to make India worse than Pak: Soren

Slamming the BJP for “destroying” the Indian economy through “wrong policies”, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday said the saffron party was hell-bent on making the country’s condition “worse than neighbouring Pakistan“. Addressing the assembly on the concluding day of the monsoon session, he accused the BJP of playing “vote-bank politics” by dividing people in the name of religion.

“The country is passing through a difficult phase; the economy is in peril, due to the wrong policies of the BJP-led central government. They are hell-bent on making the country’s condition worse than Pakistan,” Soren said.

He also said the people of Ayodhya gave a befitting reply to the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls for “dividing the country” on religious lines.

On the Centre’s ‘Agnipath’ scheme, Soren said youths enrolled in it will become “jobless after four years”, but the Jharkhand government will provide grants to their kin in case of their death, and compensatory jobs to the family members.

Amid protest by BJP members who trooped into the well of the House against his comments, Soren alleged the country’s assets were being rampantly sold while farmers’ lives were at stake.

Continuing his attack on the saffron camp, the chief minister said “it is a matter of investigation” as to how much land was “looted by the BJP” in the last five years in the state.

“They indulged in land loot and sent me behind bars by hatching a conspiracy, misusing central agencies like ED and CBI. I want to ask from where they got funds to build BJP offices… You will be astonished to know that they constructed such a building on government land as well,” Soren alleged.

He also accused the party of running a false propaganda at various places by “importing leaders”.

Coming down heavily on his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was in Jharkhand earlier in the day, Soren said at a time people in his state were affected by floods, he was “fueling communal tension” in the state.

“You (BJP) will be wiped out not only from Jharkhand, but Assam, too,” he asserted.

Soren claimed that his government provided jobs to nearly 1.5 lakh people in private and government sectors, adding, he could have provided employment to five lakh people “had he not been put behind bars”.

He alleged that the BJP, during its tenure, failed to frame rules for government jobs, and the task was fulfilled by the JMM-led coalition.

“They backstabed… went to court against the employment policy to stall our work. When we frame policies for local inhabitants and tribals, it is branded as unconstitutional, while when such policies are introduced in other states, it becomes constitutional,” said Soren.

He said his government gave priority to locals and tribals in appointments and hiked the honorarium of block-level workers, para teachers and anganwadi workers by 50 per cent.

Talking about women empowerment, he said the JMM-led government gave Rs 10,000 crore to the Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society as against Rs 600 crore by the BJP.

Flaying the BJP for the NEET paper leak incident, the chief minister said the BJP “ruined” the careers of lakhs of students.

“They talk about demographic changes in Jharkhand. Ask them who is behind the spurt in population in Ranchi, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur and Bokaro?” Soren said, apparently hinting at the non-tribal population rise in these cities.

He asserted that what his government accomplished in five years, BJP will not be able to even in 50 years.

Soren also accused the saffron party of stalling 27 per cent reservation to the backward classes and implementation of the Sarna religious code for tribals.

“They are only concerned about dividing people on the basis of religion… They can waive debts of capitalists, but not of farmers,” he said.

Soren said his government will increase the limit of loan waiver for farmers, and promised unemployment allowance to “all the unemployed” in the state.

“We launched the Mukhyamanri Maiya scheme and will be providing Rs 12,000 per annum to 50 lakh women in the state. In the coming years, our government will provide Rs 1 lakh to each household,” he said.