On March 4, when Kalpana Soren became active in politics, Hemant Soren’s wife had tears in her eyes. When she met eNewsroom on May 4, after two months, she was full of confidence. With a smile on her face and a green dot on her forehead, she was presenting the picture of an ’empowered woman’.

38-year-old Kalpana Soren has studied engineering and MBA, she can speak in four languages ​​– Hindi, English, Oriya and Bengali. In the last 60 days of being active in politics, it was visible that she is learning fast all aspects of politics. Answering the most complex questions of journalists and spending maximum time among her voters. Read her interview.

eNewsroom: Seeing and talking to you gives a glimpse of an empowered woman, how much role does the Soren family have in your empowerment? And also share your political experience so far.

Kalpana Soren: The hard work that Baba (Shibu Soren) has done over the years and the amount of time Hemant ji has spent to know the people of Jharkhand, they have taught me that you should always live with dignity and confidence. Because attempts will be made to crush you, as it was done with Baba and is being done with Hemant ji. He told me that if you are fearless and you want to do what you say, you have to be confident in it. These are the most important things in his love and education.

As far as my experience in politics in the last two months is concerned, everyone is working hard and I am also doing it. Everything is a first for me, everything is new. There is nothing tailor-made for me. I am learning. I will try to do the best I can. And to fulfill the expectations people have of me.

eNewsroom: Do you think that tribal leadership is not allowed to flourish in the country, first Shibu Soren had to go to jail when he was a minister and now Hemant Soren who came to power with a majority but landed in jail?

Kalpana Soren: When our country had not even dreamt of independence, all our revolutionaries like Baba Tilka Manjhi, Birsa Munda, Sidho Kanho, Phulo and Jhanno had taken up arms against the British. When they took up arms, they used to live in the forest. It is a matter of thinking, how is your upbringing? Whether you know how to bow or not. And what your DNA says. I always say that the DNA of the tribal is such that it cannot accept bowing down before anyone. So when Baba Tilka Manjhi did not bow down, Guruji did not and Hemant ji did not bow down, then I always felt that an attempt was being made to suppress the tribals. But I know that Adivasi is a seed on which no matter how much soil you put on it, it will emerge as a plant and when it bears fruit, it will give more seeds.

As far as tribal leadership in the country is concerned, the time will soon come when the country will get some tribal leadership.

eNewsroom: Since many women, as well as women voters of the Gandey assembly, are watching and listening to you attentively, would you like to say something to them?

Kalpana Soren: I appeal to the women of Gandey to give me a chance. I have left my home and family and want to make Gandey my home. Want to work for you. And I want to work not just for mothers and sisters but for all human beings.

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On June 17 night, Tabrez and two of his friends were returning from his uncle’s place, when Tabrez was surrounded by a mob which beat him so badly that he later succumbed to his injuries. The two friends– Md Irfan And Numer Ali, who were accompanying Tabrez, are missing since then.
According to Tabrez’s family, he was working as a welder in Pune and had come home to celebrate Eid. He had got married only two months back on April 26.

Before leaving for home, he had called his wife and informed her that he would be reaching home late. He had also mentioned the route (Dhadkidih) that he would be taking to travel back home. It was here that he was brutally assaulted by the mob.

The video of Tabrez being brutally assaulted has gone viral, and clearly shows the mob asking his name, and on him revealing his name Tabrez, he is shown being assaulted and forced to chant Jai Sri Ram and Jai Hanuman. The inhuman lynching for 14 hours eventually led to his death in police custody.

“On June 18, Tabrez had called his wife to let her know that he had been caught by a mob in Dhadkidih the previous night and been badly beaten. He had then mentioned that he was being taken to the police station. Following which we met him at 7.30 am in the morning at Saraikela police station, where we saw that he was not being able to talk to us properly, he was in severe pain, so we requested the police to first get him treated and then sent him to jail if he has been accused of theft,” Maqsood Ansari told eNewsroom over phone from Kharsawan.

“But, instead of paying heed to our request Sini Out Post (OP)’s Police Officer Bipin Bihari told us to leave the police station. He even threatened us of breaking our legs if we remained there,” he added.

At that time, police had also brought Pappu Mandal, one of the prime accused in the case. When he saw Tabrez in the police station, he abused him and expressed surprise on Tabrez being alive despite the brutal beating that he had been subjected to.

“On June 22, at 11.30 we got information from jail that Tabrez was ill and that he had been sent to the hospital for treatment. It was in the hospital that he died. But when we reached the Saraikela Hospital, his pulse was there. The doctor who had declared him dead had left the place, and the second attending doctor was not taking any interest, so we demanded ECG report. The ECG also showed that Tabrez had life.

We then wanted him to be transferred to Tata Medical Hospital (TMH). But, despite better ambulances being available we were given one ambulance without a siren. It took us two hours to reach TMH, which is just 40 kilometres away. On reaching TMH he was declared brought dead,” he narrated.

Aurangzeb Ansari, a social activist while speaking to eNewsroom, said, “We have given a written complaint against the police officer and he has been suspended but we have also demanded the SP to take Pappu Mandal into custody and run the video before him to identify the other culprit in the case.”

Significantly, two more people– Md Irfan And Numer Ali, who were with Tabrez are still missing and are yet to reach their home. They have not even contacted their respective families.

“One of the families have lodged missing FIR in a police station, while other may lodge today,” informed Maqsood.

Sahista Perween, wife of Tabrez, is not well after hearing the news of her husband’s death from lynching, she is on drips since then.

Family members and social activists have strong objection on the allegation of Tabrez being a thief.  “He has been accused of stealing a bike, in 2017, at least 7 people have been lynched in the neighbouring areas of Jamshedpur on the pretext of them being bachcha chor (thieve of children), but these accusations are yet to be proved. This is a trend in Jharkhand that in every such incident police simply believes the allegations of culprits of the victim being thieves, or criminal and without verification follow the allegations made by culprits,” added Aurangzeb.

Along with Pappu Mandal, four other accused have been arrested by the police, said SP Chandan Kumar Sinha. Two policemen, Bipin Bihari and one another also been suspended for dereliction of duty.

However, SP told eNewsroom that he has no idea regarding the missing men as no FIR has been lodged anywhere.

Courtesy: eNewsroom

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 The real and photoshopped image of Kanhaiya Kumar

The oratory skill of the 32-year-old student leader has appealed to the masses and in Begusarai, which is his native, too. But, to defeat Kanhaiya Kumar, one of the youngest and firebrand leaders of India, BJP’s IT Cell has started using the same trick– circulating doctored and photoshopped images to malign credential of the opponent.

A photoshopped image, which was started circulating in 2016, soon after Kanhaiya was slapped with sedition charges over a doctored video has surfaced again with a fresh message that connects it with the election.

In 2016, when sedition charges were slapped against Kanhaiya, the former president of Jawahar Lal Nehru University Student Union (JNUSU) was doing his Doctorate in Philosophy (PhD) and in February, this year, he has completed it.

The hate message which is circulating along with the fake image of Kanhaiya Kumar. Not only is fake image being circulated against the challenger of Giriraj Singh, but a very strong hate message is also doing round along with it, this time appealing people to not vote for him.

Rough translation of the message circulating along with the photoshopped image is, “Look at the map behind this cunning, traitor carefully. Now think from this, what kind of PhD one does in JNU. Whom the Left wing people consider their leaders? Whom the Bhim (Ambedkar) ideologue support? And what is their mentality.”

It adds, “The plan is to break India into 36 pieces. Before that, the guy (Kanhaiya) can raise his head again, crush him, this is the call of the nation.”
There is a religious slogan also at the end of the message. And three emoticons have been used at three different places of the message to give it emotional touch.

In 2016 itself, Lallantop, a news portal had done a story on the fake image of Kanhaiya Kumar being circulated and had debunk it. But as Kanhaiya is challenging PM Modi’s minister, once again the old image is out and is being pushed to WhatsApp group and other social media platform.

Courtesy: enewsroom

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JMM working president Hemant Soren (center) with Jagarnath Mahto (right) and Sudivya Kumar on Saturday

The post ‘Mighty’ BJP and suspense over three Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Hemant Soren, former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition, Jharkhand

eNewsroom: What was the purpose of your Sangharsh yatra in Jharkhand?
Hemant: We had two reasons for conducting the Sangharsh Yatra in Jharkhand – one being organizational and other political. Coming to the first reason, this yatra was organized to strengthen the party and energise our cadres. Secondly, through this we wanted to meet the common man and tell them about the anti- people work being done by the present government and also how we had performed when we were in power.

Being the opposition, we have duties to perform not just inside the assembly but also outside too. This interaction with the masses will definitely help the opposition to uproot those in power in upcoming elections.

eNewsroom: The third phase of the Sangharsh Yatra has received good response from the public but it attracted criticism from BJP too. They have alleged that you are spreading falsehood through your yatra. They even challenged you for an open debate on the issue of Mandal Dam.
Hemant: I am accepting their challenge for a public debate. However, when I had challenged the chief minister for a debate, they never fixed a date.

Why are they not telling the truth about the Mandal Dam to the people? About 70 to 80 percent of the dam’s water will be going to Bihar. Between one and half to two lakhs hectares lands of Bihar will be benefitting from the Mandal Dam, but in Jharkhand only 10000 to 12000 hectares of land will get irrigated. Why are they refraining from telling this to the common man? What wrong am I doing by informing them? I am not spreading any misinformation, but telling them about the documented details of the Mandal Dam project.
Watch the interview of Hemant Soren:
 
eNewsroom: It is not just the Mandal Dam, the power generated in Adani’s Godda power plant will be sent to Bangaldesh.
Hemant: It’s known to all that BJP works for some big industrialists and businessmen. They serve them on the expense of the state. They are least bothered about the state getting ruined.

The issue of Adani and Mandal Dam is completely on the public domain. But if you will scan the happenings in rural Jharkhand, you will see how the development funds are strategically and unconstitutionally being spent on the betterment of their own party (BJP) cadres, which in turn is helping in developing the party base in rural areas. Gram Vikash Sammitti, Kamal Clubs and many other small organizations affiliated to the BJP are the real beneficiaries of these funds. It is a huge scam, and sadly enough the accountability is completely zero.
They (cadres) have been deployed and the government funds are being used to strengthen their political establishment.

eNewsroom:  In the last four years, Jharkhand has witnessed several hunger deaths, lynching cases and rise in rape and murder. Are you going to make them a political issue in the upcoming Lok Sabha election?
Hemant: I do not have to make it an issue, people are making it. During my yatra I realised that the general public is much aware about it.

Extortion and sexual harassment allegations have been made on their (BJP) MLAs, but no action has been taken. While our MLAs raising public interest issues are being stripped off their legislatorship.

Several Jharkhand officers, facing serious charges including that of sexual harassment, have become BJP cadres.

eNewsroom: This is the first time that a non-tribal person was made the chief minister of Jharkhand. Given the way the CNT/SPT Act has been amended, it has become dangerous for the tribals or in other words, do you think that the policies of the BJP government have become a threat for the tribals?
Hemant: Whatever you say about this (Raghubar Das) government whether they are against tribal or indigenous people, but one thing is quite clear – the mindset and attitude, which is should be in a government, is lacking in the present government. The government is not behaving like a welfare state. A government should be is for everyone—the one who voted for them and the others who did not. But you cannot feel the same about this government.

Since the time Jharkhand got separated, BJP has continued being the ruling party for the state, while tribal leaders were chosen as the chief minister including my tenure. But what has happened in these four years—lynching cases and crime, had never happened in state at this large a scale.

The gap between the GDP growth that Jharkhand had witnessed during my term and the present government is huge. This government has failed to run the system. Leave aside good governance, there is no governance at all in Jharkhand.

Courtesy: https://enewsroom.in
 

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(Anti-clockwise) Zeenat Khatoon, Kanchan Das, Uday Pandey who died and Shivlal Soren, who is missing

What’s the Para-teacher movement all about?
Between December 15 and 17, three Para-Teachers have died in Jharkhand. However, the state has witnessed a total of nine deaths (para-teacher) in last one month. The death list also includes two female para-teachers—Zeenat Khatoon (Ramgarh) and Priyanka Kumari (Chatra).
Significantly, since the lathi-charge incident, one para-teacher Shivlal Soren is also missing.

The para-teacher movement began a month back on November 15, Statehood Day in Ranchi. As the celebratory function was on, a large number of para-teachers had gathered at Morabadi Ground, demanding their jobs to be secured like their counterparts in Chhatisgarh had been. Jharkhand has over 70000 para-teachers (contractual). Their hope of getting a permanent job as assistant teachers were raised when six secretaries of Jharkhand Government had jointly approved it and left it upon Chief Minister Raghubar Das to take a call.

“To press our demand, thousands of para-teachers had planned to reach Ranchi from across the state, on the Foundation Day function on November 15. However, several para-teachers stopped mid-way by the police. And those that reached the ground faced the brutal lathi-charge at Morabadi Ground,” informed Narayan Mahto, a member of Para-Teachers’ Sangharsh Morcha to eNewsroom.

Next day, following the brutal assault, para-teachers went on an indefinite strike.

Para-Teachers stage-in at the residence of BJP’s Sindri MLA Phoolchand Mandal on Tuesday

Government silent over protest
According to Mahto, on November 15, 297 para-teachers were arrested, and thereafter deaths are continue. But even after a month, Raghubar Das government has refused to take note of the situation.

The other para-teachers who died are—Rajkumar Paswan (Hazaribad), Uday Shankar Pandey (Garhwa), Jagdev Yadav (Chatra) and Raghunath Hemburm (Bokaro).

What Para-Teachers want?
The mainstreaming, and hike in their salaries are main demand of the para-teachers. At present, an untrained para-teacher (primary) gets a salary of Rs 7800 only, while a trained one gets Rs 8200. In middle school, its Rs 8800 for a trained ones and for a TET qualified Science stream para-teachers it is Rs 9200.

The experience of teachers sadly enough doesn’t lead to much salary hike. For instance, Mahto itself, a para-teacher for 15 years now, earns a paltry sum.

“Most of us among the 70000 protesting teachers have over 10 years of experience. We have given our prime to the education department of Jharkhand. And sadly enough, till date, we don’t have a permanent job and in the name of salary, we get peanuts. In case, one of us dies, there is no provision that a kin get compensation job,” said Mahto.

Despite several MPs and MLAs from the government including BJP state President Laxman Giluwa publicly accepted that the demands of para-teachers are genuine, they couldn’t facilitate a mutual agreement between the state and the protesting teachers.

Opposition stands with Para-Teachers
Jharkhand’s opposition parties have supported the agitation of para-teachers.

Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Hemant Soren tweeted on December 17 that there is no morality left now in Raghubar Das government as even after deaths of three para-teachers, it is still sleeping.

CPI-ML has organized several protest march against government’s policy towards Para-Teacher, its leader Vinod Singh said, “All the trained para-teachers should immediately get permanent jobs as educators. As for the non-trained teachers, they should be given permanent position for non-teaching works.”

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which brought a drastic change in the education sector and especially in government schools of Delhi believes that Jharkhand’s BJP government has no intention of improving education, as it has no policy to improve the deteriorating education situation and respecting teachers. In fact it does not work like a welfare state.

“Raghubar Das government wants to hand over the education sector to the private sector. Several government schools across the state have been closed, even after the opposition of local MLAs and MP,” told Jai Shankar Choudhary, Jharkhand State Convener, AAP to eNewsroom.
Choudhary also cited how Arvind Kejriwal led Delhi government had recently, made several teachers permanent and increased their salaries substantially. “In Delhi, teachers’ are being respected and not getting beaten or left to die,” said the AAP leader.

First published on https://enewsroom.in/

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Chhattisgarh assembly election result by 12 midnight on Election Commission of India site

But very few would be aware of the fact that the present Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Raghubar Das was born in Chhattisgarh. And on several occasions, it has been heard during protests against chief minister that, ‘Raghubar Das go back to Chhattisgarh’. Most recent, it was para-teachers who had shouted it during their protest at the foundation day function on November 15 in Ranchi. With BJP witnessing its biggest loss (Congress winning 68 seats out of 90) since the formation of Chhattisgarh, the opposition in Jharkhand will be seen using this slogan more often.

Mineral rich state, Jharkhand is riddled with several political issue including – locals versus outsiders and Bharatiya Janata Janta (BJP) having appointed the first non-tribal chief minister of the state—Raghubar Das. But Das, a former Tata Steel employee who later plunged into active politics, hails from Chhattisgarh. During his four-year -term, the opposition has accused the chief minister of inducting outsiders, in the government job sector. All these have created resentment among the locals.

So a drubbing of BJP in Chhattisgarh, where they had ruled for 15 consecutive years, may have a direct impact in Jharkhand’s politics.

Jharkhand has 81 assembly seats, and in 2014, BJP had fallen short of securing a majority after having won only 36 seats. Later, 6 MLAs from Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikash Morcha (JVM) switched side and joined the saffron party, which helped BJP to reach the magical figure.
With it getting evident that the opposition will have to make a Mahagathbandhan (Megha Alliance) in the approaching 2019 Lok Sabha election, to wrestle off BJP from power in center. BJP at present has 12 MPs from 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand. But after BJP tasting its worst defeat in Chhattisgarh Assembly Polls, it looks like things might get a bit difficult for the party not only during the upcoming Lok Sabha election but in Jharkhand Assembly Polls too.

The mood looks set, as former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Hemant Soren was quick to tweet on the results: “Today’s #AssemblyElections2018Results show peoples’ resentment, anger & frustration with the ruling #bjp state & central govts. It is a clarion call to #Mission2019, a battle of harmony Vs communalism, peace Vs hate politics & upholding the cause of the marginalised in our society (sic).”

While the first Chief Minister of Jharkhand and JVM Chief Babulal Marandi speaking to eNewsroom said, “Narendra Modi was spreading communalism, and was indulging in cow and Mandir-Masjid politics, which people of India has clearly rejected. It will have its impact on Jharkhand too. In fact, the reverse counting for the BJP government has just begun.”

First published on https://enewsroom.in/
 

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