BJP alleges ‘land jihad’ in Jharkhand, demands probe
RANCHI : Jharkhand Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo on Friday alleged that a “Gangs of Chhotanagpur” is working in the state, which helped former chief minister Hemant Soren and many other Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leaders in allegedly generating false documents to capture tribal land.
Addressing a press conference at the media centre on Harmu Road in Ranchi, Shahdeo said ‘land Jihad’ has started in Jharkhand with the support of the JMM-led INDIA bloc government.
“Gangs of Chhotanagpur is working on the lines of Gangs of Wasseypur, which helped Hemant Soren and many other JMM leaders in generating false documents to capture land. The government had completely ignored ‘love Jihad’. Now, ‘land jihad’ has also started in this government,” Shahdeo said.
Supporting the use of the term “land Jihad,” Shahdeo said, “The prominent people who were accused of tampering with documents in the occupation of 8.86 acres of benami land owned by Hemant Soren are Irshad, Afsar Ali, Imtiaz, Saddam, Talha, and Faiyaz .......... The Land Jihadi gang captured the valuable army land of Kachnar Toli of Jagannathpur. The name of Zakir has surfaced in it. Along with Zakir, Mubarak Khan, Shamim Khan, Iqbal, Nasir Ikram, Abdul, Salim, Rashid, Hussain, Manjoor, and Anwar have also been accused in the FIR registered in this connection at Jagannathpur police station.”
Shahdeo also raised questions regarding the presence of land grabbers at the former chief
minister’s house after 8:00 pm.
“Is it true that the members of the Gangs of Wasseypur had free rein to enter the chief minister’s residence after 8:00 pm, and the CCTV cameras were also switched off at that time? Agencies should call the security officer of that time and get information on this issue because these people would have destroyed the CCTV footage by now,” the BJP leader said.
Shahdeo said, “How efforts are being made to capture the land of the army and the government in Hemant Soren Part One of Part 2, it is visible that land grabbers have political protection.”
Shahdeo said, “This government did not commit only land robbery during the tenure of former chief minister Hemant Soren but the employment of youths also. Looting of youth’s jobs is evident from the WhatsApp chat between Hemant Soren’s architect friend Binod Singh and Hemant Soren. This is also part of the ED charge sheet. The work of selling the dreams of the youth was done for ₹25-25
lakhs.”
Pratul said that after Prem Prakash, Amit Aggarwal, Pankaj Mishra, Antu Tirkey has now debuted as the new scam eagle. “Antu’s diary entry has made it clear that the game of land plunder was going on under government patronage. Information is being received that entries of transactions with many big leaders of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha have also been found in Antu Tirkey’s diary. What a coincidence is that the 8.86 acres of land which Hemant Soren had illegally occupied. Antu Tirkey had also captured the land adjacent to this Khata and Khesra. This is a big part of the planned robbery,” he said.
Reacting to allegations, JMM general secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya said, “Being a son of a high court judge late L.P.N. Shahdeo, my younger brother Pratul should be careful in the selection of words he uses. It is difficult to jump to any conclusion till the conclusion of the trial. Being accused and being convicted are two different things.”