People's Democracy

 HOLDING PANCHAYAT POLLS IN JHARKHAND

 BJP ON THE RUN

WHAT was apprehended earlier has come true. In the all-party meeting called by the Jharkhand state government on August 23, on the issue of panchayat elections, the chief minister Arjun Munda refused to announce a date for holding these elections. This was despite the unanimous view of all opposition parties that attended the all-party meeting. The said meeting was sharply divided on the issue because of it.

With the entire opposition demanding that the chief minister fix up a date for holding panchayat elections in Jharkhand, it was the BJP-led ruling alliance who were opposed to holding these elections in the state. The reason is that the Arjun Munda ministry is contemplating such amendments in the Jharkhand Panchayati Raj Act 2001, in relation to the fifth schedule areas, as are not possible without an amendment to the constitution of India itself by the parliament. For the contemplated changes are against the Provisions of Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996. It is now clear that the BJP-led government simply wants to avoid holding the panchayat elections in the state by raising such issues.

In a note jointly signed by leaders of various opposition leaders and submitted to the chief minister at the beginning of the all-party meeting, the opposition parties had raised the demand to hold the panchayat elections in the state immediately. The signatories included the opposition leader in state assembly Stephen Marandi (from the JMM), leader of the RJD assembly group Girinath Singh and its state president Yogendra Baita, leader of the Congress legislature party Phurkhan Ansari, CPI(ML) MLA Mahendra Prasad Singh and its state secretariat member Upendra Choursia, CPI(M) state secretary J S Majumdar, and Arup Chatterjee, MLA of the Marxist Coordination Committee.

But the cabinet ministers and the chief minister were adamant on not fixing up the date of the panchayat elections. As such, the all-party meeting failed to arrive at any consensus.

In the CPI(M) state unit’s opinion on the issue, “It is now clear that the all-party meeting was called by the government only to take a plea to stall the panchayat elections in the state. The game plan of the government, however, was exposed by united opposition.”

It will be noted that the Ranchi High Court too had directed the state government to fix a date for holding the panchayat elections in the state and inform the court about it. (See People’s Democracy, August 24 for details.) The state government’s adamant attitude on the issue thus amounts to contempt of the court. (INN)