Cong slams land mutation bill, BJP plans statewide stir

Ranchi: A week after the Hemant Soren cabinet passed the Jharkhand Land Mutation Bill, 2020, voices of protests have now started surfacing against it both from the ruling and the opposition camps, demanding its rollback. While BJP has announced to launch a stir across the state, Congress MLA Bandhu Tirkey threatened to tear the copy of the bill if it is tabled in the upcoming monsoon session.
Talking to reporters on Sunday, BJP’s leader of legislative party Babulal Marandi, also an MLA from Dhanwar, said this bill is anti-people. He said, “The bill aims to provide protection to land and revenue officers from any kind of action/cases even if they commit any mistake. Will any sane government tend to do it? We would have welcomed if the bill empowered common people rather than the babus.”
Marandi added, during the Raghubar Das regime, the state cabinet rejected this bill twice. “I wonder how the new cabinet passed it. It is clear that either the cabinet ministers didn’t understand the contents of the bill or were misled by officials. The bill must not come to the assembly ahead of the monsoon session. If it is passed, it will be a black day for Jharkhand. BJP will go all out to block this bill irrespective of what it takes to do,” warned Marandi, Jharkhand’s first chief minister.
Tirkey, who has been a long crusader for tribal rights and has been safeguarding their lands, said the Hemant Soren government had come to power by safeguarding tribals and poor land holders from land sharks. “But this bill is completely opposite to the coalition government’s electoral stand. I will to the chief minister to make him understand why this bill will be dangerous for all. I will tear the bill if it comes up in the upcoming monsoon session,” he said.
According to Tirkey, land sharks’ connivance with government officials has been one of the biggest problems in Jharkhand. By providing immunity to land and revenue department officials, there will be a free-run for land loots.
Tirkey also questioned why the Jharkhand government often relies on the old and archaic laws of Bihar to devise its own laws. “Aren’t our IAS officials competent enough to prepare our own laws? Why should we always base our laws on those which exist in Bihar even after two decades of being bifurcated? But unlike in the Bihar’s law, this land bill ceases power to protest and complaint. The government will be in a soup if it is passed as it will lead to widespread protests,” said Tirkey.