Having completed four years in office, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said on Thursday that he is working hard to develop the State with the limited resources it has, but called for more support from the Centre.
Mr. Soren said that Jharkhand is counted among the backward States of the country but during the pandemic, his government did a better job in comparison to other States. “We faced the pandemic boldly while providing all possible help to everyone including the poor, labourers and farmers,” the CM said.
“Right from the early days, our government has worked for the development of every section of the State. Campaigns like ‘Aapki Yojana Aapki Sarkar Aapke Dwar’ [your scheme, your government, at your doorstep] have been important and effective steps, and the government reached out to the doorstep of the last person. There have been many disparities at the economic and educational front in Jharkhand but I am working hard to resolve all the issues,” the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader said.
He further said that the challenges are not over yet and his government could face many more challenges in the days to come, but he is “well prepared to deal with them”.
“Overall development of any State is only possible with mutual coordination between the Central and State governments, but I believe the cooperation we should have received from the Centre has been below our expectations. Despite getting less support from the Central government, I did not stop and kept moving forward,” Mr. Soren said.
Interacting with the media at his official residence on Kanke Road in Ranchi, he also slammed the previous government of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying they could not live up to the expectations of people.
Asked why he has been continuously skipping summons of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the land scam case, Mr. Soren said, “This country functions according to the law and Constitution. Everything should be done in a democratic way. I am not afraid and I am not going to run away anywhere.”
He said the Opposition BJP in the State has been trying to topple his government since the day of its formation, but he isn’t afraid of their tactics and would work to remove the “backward tag” of Jharkhand.
Asked if he received an invitation to attend the inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, Mr. Soren replied, “I have not got any invitation so far; however I will surely attend if I receive the invitation.”
With the government completing four years, the BJP tried to highlight failures of the government by issuing a 19-page Aarop Patra (chargesheet letter). Jharkhand BJP State president Babulal Marandi released it at the party office in Ranchi.
Mr. Marandi criticised the functioning of Mr. Soren’s government, alleging that during the past four years, he betrayed the youth, farmers, labourers, women, Dalits, tribals, and backward communities of the State.
“This has proven to be the most failure-prone and corrupt government in the history of Jharkhand. BJP had taken the State on the path of development but only rampant corruption is visible in the UPA [United Progressive Alliance] government,” Mr. Marandi said.
The BJP’s Aarop Patra prominently displayed the seizure of huge amount of cash from the residence and office of Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Sahu. The preface of the “chargesheet letter”, written by Mr. Marandi and Leader of Opposition Amar Kumar Bauri, highlighted achievements of the Central government.
