Ranchi, Jan 19 (PTI) On the eve of the scheduled questioning of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren by the ED, several tribal organisations took out a protest march in Ranchi against the central agency on Friday.
Hundreds of tribals carrying traditional weapons bows and arrows, flags of the ‘Sarna’ religion and posters of Soren, took out the march from Ranchi’s Morabadi Ground and demonstrated against the ED.
The posters written in Hindi said, ‘Stop harassing the tribal chief minister’.
The protestors also held a demonstration near Raj Bhavan and threatened that Jharkhand would see another ‘Ulgulan’ (revolt) if ED did not stop its activities against Soren.
‘Ulgulan’ was a movement started by Birsa Munda against the exploitation and discrimination against tribals by the local authorities in the 19th century.
Soren, also the JMM executive president, had skipped seven summonses of the ED in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.
The agency then asked the chief minister to be available for questioning in the case between January 16 and January 20. In reply, Soren told the ED it can record his statement on January 20 at his residence.
Ajay Tirkey, central president of tribal body Kendriya Sarna Samiti (KSS), alleged that the central probe agency is deliberately harassing the chief minister on the direction of the BJP.
“Why is the ED silent in BJP-ruled states? Is there no corruption in those states? This is nothing but a conspiracy of the BJP to destabilise the Hemant Soren-led government,” Tirke said.
Earlier, when the CM had been called by the agency, he had visited its office and faced questioning for eight-nine hours, he said.
“If the ED continues to trouble our tribal chief minister, there will be another Ulgulan in Jharkhand,” Tirke said.
On January 16, the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) called for a nine-hour strike in Sahebganj district to protest against the ED summons to Soren.
Amid protests, the probe agency wrote the chief secretary, director general of police and the Ranchi senior superintendent of police to ensure security and maintain law and order when ED officials visit the CM’s residence to question him, an official said.
The investigation pertains to a “huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by the mafia” in Jharkhand, according to the ED.
The agency has so far arrested 14 people in the case, including 2011-batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan who has served as the director of the state Social Welfare Department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi.
Soren had filed a petition before the Supreme Court and then the Jharkhand High Court, seeking protection from the ED action and terming the summonses “unwarranted”. Both courts dismissed his petitions. PTI SAN NN
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