BJP’s Jharkhand manifesto reeks of polarisation: Congress

The Congress has alleged that the BJP manifesto for Jharkhand reeks of “polarisation and the spread of the communal virus”.

The party also said that the BJP must give an account for the delay in releasing Rs 1.36 lakh crore to Jharkhand in the form of pending coal royalties before seeking votes from the people.

Congress general secretary in-charge (communications) Jairam Ramesh said, “The Central government owes Jharkhand lakhs of crores of rupees in coal royalties and central scheme benefits. In Jharkhand, coal mines are operated by subsidiaries of Coal India Limited who owe huge sums of money to the state government. There is an outstanding Rs 1,01,142 crore for “non-payment of land compensation”, Rs 32,000 crore under “common cause dues” head, and Rs 2,500 crore under “washed coal royalty” head.”

He also lashed out at the BJP’s manifesto for Jharkhand released by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

“From the manifesto it has released for Jharkhand today, it is clear that the BJP has only one campaign issue: polarisation and the spread of the communal virus. The language of the Union Home Minister who released the manifesto, and that of its campaign in-charge — the Assam CM (Himanta Biswa Sarma) — makes it abundantly clear that the BJP has simply no answer to the extremely popular and impactful schemes of the JMM-INC government in the state. It will depend only on the spread of bigotry, prejudice and the incitement of hatred in the name of religion,” he said.