Hemant Soren govt complains to EC against Himanta Sarma and Shivraj Chouhan, BJP reacts
The Hemant Soren led govt accused BJP leaders of ‘intimidating’ and ‘misusing’ state machinery to 'spread communal tensions' ahead of polls in the state.
The Jharkhand government on Tuesday urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ask Union Home Minister Amit Shah to issue an advisory to Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma to stop “instigating communal tension” using official machinery in the state for “narrow political gains” ahead of assembly elections, news agency PTI reported.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led government asked the chief election commissioner to advise Shah “not to allow the misuse of the official position of CM, Assam and the state official machinery at the expense of public exchequer for political gains and desist from direct interference in internal affairs of the state in blatant violation of constitutional norms”.
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Misuse of state machinery
The state government in a recent letter to the ECI accused the BJP of attempting to "scare the administrative and police officers" to deter them from taking punitive actions against actions of state BJP leaders that create “communal disturbance and tension in the area by influencing religious passions and creating communal disturbances”.
The government cited examples of removal of officials from election duty ahead of 2024 general elections and termed it a “systematic and well-planned attack on the bureaucracy and police”. Such actions have led to "a widespread feeling of fear and demoralisation in the rank and file" of officers, the letter alleged.
It demanded "strongest possible action" against such leaders involved in mud-slinging and interfering in the internal affairs of the state.
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Jharkhand govt on ‘Influx of illegal immigrants’
The government attributed the influx of illegal immigrants into the state to porous international border with Bangladesh and asked Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma to stop his allegations and “desist from instigating and fomenting disturbances and disharmony among communities in the state of Jharkhand”.
It questioned whether a sitting chief minister of a state can make "false allegations and statements" against another state of the Indian union which amounts to “character assassination of the government leaders, DGP and other officials”.
The letter also questioned the legal grounds on which the BJP is appointing leaders as election-in-charge when election dates to the state have not been announced. Chouhan and Sarma were made the BJP's state election in-charge on June 17 and have been visiting Jharkhand frequently.
The Hemant Soren-led government alleged that both leaders have indulged in “provocative and hostile” statements against the Jharkhand administration. "These activities appear to be a deliberate and a planned scheme to falsely and wrongfully malign the administrative officials such that when the Model Code of Conduct comes into force, reports based on false charges can be prepared of such officers and sent to the EC to act against such officers and top bureaucrats of the state. This appears to be a prelude of things to come," it stated.
ECI and BJP responds
The ECI reportedly declined to comment when contacted by news agency PTI.
Sarma said he was “not doing any politics” and asked Soren to "reform the state". The BJP also claimed that the ruling JMM-led coalition is scared of its impending defeat in the upcoming assembly elections and wondered why the state government did not take any action against Sarma and Chouhan.
(With inputs from PTI)