Police open fire on tribal rally, one killed, several hurt
RANCHI: One person was killed and several others injured in Jharkhand’s Khunti on Saturday when police fired on protesters trying to join a rally by a conglomerate of tribal groups against the government’s alleged attempt to dilute two British-era laws safeguarding tribal land, officials said.
Several policemen were also injured in the clashes.
The growing tribal anger in Jharkhand has echoes of the nationwide protests by farmers against the Narendra Modi government’s controversial bill that aims to ease India’s laws governing land acquisition for industries.
The Raghubar Das-led BJP government has brought in an ordinance seeking changes in the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act (CNT) and Santhal Pargana Tenancy (SPT) Act to facilitate acquisition of tribal land for “public interest projects” such as roads, dams, water pipelines, transmission cables and hospitals. The tribals, constituting 26.2% of the state’s 3.29 crore population, say the move could lead to rampant acquisition of land belonging to the indigenous people. Tribals are also angry over Das’ frequent raising of the bogey of their alleged conversion to Christianity, a charge denied by organisations representing the indigenous people.
Khunti deputy commissioner Chandrasekhar said police exercised “maximum restrained” but were forced to open fire when protesters allegedly holding senior officials hostage turned violent. Activists rejected the charges.
The CM condemned the incident and announced aid of `2 lakh each for the family of the dead and injured.