Marandi joins oppn chorus, says land-use law is against tribals

RANCHI: Jharkhand BJP chief Tala Marandi joined the Opposition in opposing his own state government’s policy on Monday, saying proposed amendments to a land-use law were stacked against tribals and could lead to their extinction.

The statement came a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrates World Tribal Day in Madhya Pradesh and drew flak from other party leaders in the state.

Marandi, who was appointed the BJP’s first tribal state president in May, opposed proposed amendments in a tenancy act and said an ordinance passed in the state assembly to enforce the new changes should be withdrawn.

“The proposed amendments are not in favour of the tribals. The amendments should not happen. The decision might have been taken in haste,” Marandi said.

The NDA-ruled Jharkhand recently passed an ordinance proposing amendments in the Chottanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act and Santhal Pargana Tenancy (SPT) Act.

The ordinance — yet to be approved by President Pranab Mukherjee — allowed the acquisition of agricultural tribal land for non-agricultural development purposes such as roads, schools, hospitals and flyovers.

The Opposition had alleged that the ordinance was decided in haste and should have been discussed in the assembly.

Several tribal rights groups and religious bodies have also been up in arms against the ordinance and plan to meet the President, demanding its scrapping.

But Marandi’s statement has left the BJP in a fix. The party has already been facing the wrath of the JMM, which has termed the ordinance “anti-tribal”.

“He (Marandi) is a member of the state assembly. He has the right to speak during the sessions. There is no point in keeping quiet in the assembly and later creating a fuss,” said state BJP in-charge Trivendra Rawat.

A senior BJP leader said Marandi was liable for strict action by giving out such antiparty statements and supporting the Opposition.

State labour minister Raj Paliwar, however, said that it was important to know in what context Marandi had given his statement.

“Everybody had supported the ordinance initially. It is important to know in what circumstances he gave the statement,” said Paliwar.

JMM spokesperson Vinod Pandey said the statement highlighted that tribal leaders even from the BJP were not satisfied with the ordinance.