Amid raucous resistance from opposition parties and statewide agitations by tribal organisations, the Jharkhand Assembly on Wednesday approved amendments to two crucial, decades-old laws that guarantee protection of land owned by the state’s sizeable tribal population.
The BJP-led government headed by Chief Minister Raghubar Das tabled two separate bills to amend the two laws – Chotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 (CNT Act) and Santhal Paragana Tenancy Act, 1949 (SPT Act) – despite massive protests by opposition legislators. The highly contentious changes that got legislative nod have paved the way for the land of Jharkhand’s tribal people being used for industrial and welfare projects.
Tribal politicians, academicians and social activists say the approved amendments would quicken the alienation of land owned by the state’s predominantly poor tribal population.
The Assembly proceedings witnessed ugly scenes as MLAs of Opposition parties such as JMM, Congress, JVM(P), CPI(ML) and RJD displayed a united show of protest, which got unruly a couple of times. A shoe was shown to have been thrown at the chair of Speaker Dinesh Oraon and the microphone on his table was broken.
#WATCH Pandemonium in Jharkhand assembly: Opposition members staged a protest against amendment in land laws pertaining to tribal protection pic.twitter.com/SBMrdQQw9x
— ANI (@ANI_news) November 23, 2016
Chairs were thrown up inside the Assembly by some MLAs and copies of the bills bearing the amendment clauses were torn up. The Opposition parties, who dubbed the amendments as “sly methods for the loot of tribal land,” vowed to intensify agitations statewide and do everything to prevent the implementation of the amendments.
Thousands of men and women, most of them hailing from tribal and indigenous communities living across Jharkhand, participated in a protest march, christened ‘aakrosh rally’ (rally of angst), in state capital Ranchi on Wednesday. Police unleashed water cannons on them and stopped them on their way at Satellite Chowk as they insisted on reaching the Assembly building.
Some major political leaders, including Jharkhand’s first chief minister and JVM(P) president Babulal Marandi, were among nearly 100 people who were detained by police from the rally venue and taken to a camp jail.
