Give 'silenced' Mamta justice, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren urges voters at Ramgarh

RAMGARH: Chief minister Hemant Soren on Wednesday struck a sentimental chord when he sought support of the electorate from his native soil - Ramgarh - to give a befitting reply to the conspirators.
He said Mamta Devi who fought for the rights of local people is paying a price and deserves all support from the people she defended. "I am sure that Ramgarh would give befitting reply to the conspirators who separated a newborn from the lap of his mother," Soren said, urging them to vote for giving justice to the woman, who tried to give them a voice.
Soren was addressing a mega election rally in Dulmi Bazaar, nearly 55km from the state capital, to extend JMM's support to Congress candidate Bajrang Mahto, husband of convicted former MLA Mamta Devi. Soren went to Ramgarh after returning from Chennai where he had gone with his father Shibu Soren for a regular health check-up.
Soren said it was not a poll meeting but a people's adalat and he was there to urge them to give justice to jailed Mamta Devi. "People's court is the highest court in democracy and it is the people who can deliver rightful justice by supporting her husband Bajrang Mahto in the election," Soren said. He squarely blamed the previous government for hatching a conspiracy against the "vocal" Congress leader to silence her.
Soren did not spare the BJP and lodged a scathing attack on the Centre accusing it of shielding corrupt people and financial malpractices. Without taking names, he asked the people to be aware of keeping money in banks. "Your money deposited with banks is not safe in this government as the bank may sink any day. You should keep your money buried," he said.
Ramgarh bypoll: Political parties intensify last leg of campaign
With campaigning for the Ramgarh byelection entering its final leg, political parties from the ruling coalition and the opposition have intensified their campaigning in all six blocks of the district.
Ajsu-P, which is hoping to regain the seat from Congress, has stepped up its door-to-door campaigns, roadshows and public meetings. The party, which is a part of the BJP-led NDA, has taken up the issues of corruption, rising crime graph in the state, and the failure of the Hemant Soren-led coalition government in providing jobs to the state's youths.
Besides highlighting the failures of the Soren government, Ajsu-P candidate Sunita Choudhary and her star campaigners, including Sudesh Mahto, are highlighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's exploits on the world stage to garner support.
With days away from voting, the Ramgarh byelection campaign assumed significance with the entry of Soren and his cabinet colleagues in favour of Congress candidate Bajrang Mahto. BJP is also mounting its big guns in Ramgarh as Union tribal affairs minister Arjun Munda is scheduled to campaign here on Thursday. Soren, who held his first rally in Gola on February 19, held another rally in Dulmi on Wednesday. The CM, whose roots lie in Gola's Nemra village, will hold two more rallies in Chitarpur and Ramgarh, Congress workers here said. Soren and the Mahagatbandhan is focussing their campaign on Mamta Devi, the disqualified Ramgarh MLA's alleged false implication in a 2016 case of violence and arson.
Alamgir Alam, Congress leader and state rural affairs minister, said: "Our campaign is centred around the false implication of Mamta Devi, which cost her the seat.