Raghubar Das, Babulal Marandi attack Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren for ‘communal’ deployment

ASRP Mukesh | TNN | Updated: Apr 7, 2020, 15:42 IST

RANCHI: Former chief ministers Raghubar Das and Babulal Marandi (both from BJP) on Monday criticised the Ranchi district administration’s for deploying police personnel from the Muslim community for enforcing the lockdown and providing security to health workers during home screening and sample collection from residents of the Muslim-dominated Hindpiri area, where two women have now tested positive for Covid-19.
Das accused the Hemant Soren government of trying to give a communal colour to the whole exercise by deploying administrative personnel from “only a specific community in Hindpiri. He said, “Deploying personnel from a specific community on the pretext of screening in Hindpiri is beyond logic and highly condemnable. Law and order management cannot be treated on the lines of caste and community. This will set a bad precedent for the entire state.”
He added, “While the discrimination of Hindpiri residents is illegal, it is equally unwarranted to make security arrangements on communal lines.”
Leader of BJP’s legislative party Babulal Marandi also said the move is illogical and unwarranted. In a letter to chief minister Hemant Soren on Monday, Marandi said while they appreciate several efforts undertaken by the state government to fight the infection, he and his party condemn the administration’s move to deploy officials on communal lines in Hindpiri. He appealed to Soren to consider the suggestion and sought his intervention to end the “discrimination”.
Marandi wrote, “While taking oath of office as CM, he must have vowed to act in the interest and welfare of the residents of the state irrespective of the caste or community they belong to. Deploying community-specific personnel in Hindpiri is in violation of that oath.”
Marandi added that Soren is setting a dangerous precedent. He said, “If, in future, any Covid-19 cases surfaces in Hindu-dominated areas and if the residents demands only Hindu officials in the locality for law and order or screening, what will the government do? I expect the government to take this criticism on a positive note to set things in order.”
Ranchi deputy commissioner Rai Mahimapat Ray said, “The administration is being fair to all and trying its best to combat Covid-19. And it is not advisable for us at this juncture to respond to political comments.”