BJP leaders provoking people of Jharkhand in name of religion, caste: Hemant

Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Thursday, 26 September, accused BJP leaders of "provoking people of the state in the name of caste and religion".

He claimed that BJP leaders who are being seen in the state at present would not be seen after the Assembly elections in the state due later this year.

Soren was addressing a government function in Ranchi where he waived Rs 400 crore of farm loans of around 1.77 lakh farmers in the state. Earlier, the government had waived farm loans of up to Rs 50,000 of around 4.73 lakh farmers.

"Earlier, the government waived farm loans of up to Rs 50,000. Then, it decided to waive farm loans of up to Rs 2 lakh," Soren said.

Accusing the BJP government at the Centre of "ruining Jharkhand's 'Jal, Jungle and Jamin' (water, forest and land) for over 20 years", he alleged that leaders of the saffron party are "hovering" across the state as election is round-the-corner.

"As election is round-the-corner, they (BJP leaders) are hovering across Jharkhand. Many faces, which you would not have seen earlier, are being seen now. They will be seen only for once and thereafter they will disappear," Soren said.

"They are spreading communal tension and provoking people in the name of caste and religion. Beware of them," he alleged.

Soren alleged that there were "preparations by the Centre to sell the country's farmers to the traders through the three farm laws".

"The farmers protested against the farm laws for around a year and forced the government to revoke those," he said.

Attacking the Centre, Soren said that it did not have the money to double farmers' income, increase MSP and empower women but there was no crisis of money when it came to waiving the loans of its "capitalist friends".

Soren said his government has worked for every section of the society and fulfilled their basic necessity of 'Roti' (bread), 'Kapda' (cloth) and 'Makaan' (house).

"We have waived farm loans, electricity dues and made consumption of electricity free up to 200 units," he said.

He accused the BJP of "disturbing" his government for two years.

"When they failed in their attempt, they put me behind the bars on false charges," he said.