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Laloo pledges life to prevent separate Jharkhand

The ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal on Monday announced that it would oppose the Bihar Reorganisation Bill, 1998.

Party supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav's reaction to the demand for a separate state of Jharkhand was dramatic.

"Over my dead body!" he said.

The RJD legislature, true to this feeling, would oppose the Bill. It would also launch 'Bihar Bachao Andolan', an agitation to save Bihar, from September 15. Yadav called on the people to lend support to this wholeheartedly.

He, however, did not divulge what form the agitation would take place -- just that it was against the 'evil designs' of the Centre.

Yadav said his party was ready to accept a greater Jharkhand state, to be carved out of 26 districts in Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh, for which the assembly has already passed a resolution.

Earlier, the political parties named in the Jharkhand bribery case had threatened to withdraw support to the Rabri Devi government if any attempt was made to scuttle the creation of a separate state.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (Soren) spokesman and Jharkhand Ekta Manch convener Simon Marandi, and Jharkhand Party president N E Horo said a state, to be carved out of 18 districts of Chotanagpur and Santhal Pargana, was a step towards their ultimate goal for a greater Jharkhand.

The Jharkhand Ekta Manch -- consisting of the JMM (Soren), JMM (Mardi), JMM (Democratic), Jharkhand Peoples Party and Jharkhand Party (Naren) -- enjoys the support of the Jharkhand Party (Horo).

Though the party is not rigid on the nomenclature of the proposed state, it, however, wished that the state be christened Jharkhand and not Vananchal as proposed by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government at the Centre.

The JEM had called a meeting of all the parties named in the case in Patna on September 17 to discuss the issue and build a consensus for the smooth passage of the Bihar Reorganisation Bill, 1998, to be introduced in the state legislature during its special session from September 18.

The two leaders, flanked by Morcha (Soren) legislators, including Niyel Tirkey, Basant Longa, Arjun Singh, Bernand Minz and Morcha (soren) general secretary Sudhir Mahato and central secretary Ajit Mahato, demanded clarification from the Rabri Devi government about its stand on the issue.

They sought to know whether the state government favoured a separate state or not.

They said the JEM, which stood for the aspirations of the Jharkhand people, would ensure that the Bihar Reorganisation Bill was adopted by the state legislature without delay. They also called upon the people to stand united at this point when their five-decade-old dream was going to come true.

JEM convener Simon Marandi said they accepted the Jharkhand Area Autonomous Council as the first step towards a separate state. He said certain political parties and leaders, particularly those from North and Central Bihar, who opposed the formation of Jharkhand on ''flimsy grounds'' were against the development of the 18 districts. Since Independence, these areas have remained backward and been exploited.

JMM (Soren) vice-president Suraj Mandal, who also holds the same office with the JAAC, had called upon all political parties to rise above party lines and support the proposed Bill.

Claiming that the issue would face no opposition in the state legislature, he said even if the Bill was opposed by any political party, it would have no bearing on the formation of the Jharkhand state.

Criticising former state chief minister Jagannath Mishra for his reported remarks against Jharkhand, he said, ''Dr Mishra's political survival depends on this issue.''

While the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is against Jharkhand, the other Left parties, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and the Maoist Communist Party, have pledged support for the move.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress, meanwhile, is divided over the issue. Both, instead, advocates a greater Jharkhand state comprising 26 districts of Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa.

RJD leaders from North and Central Bihar have already started lodging protests against the state.

Describing the resolution on Jharkhand's creation, recommended by the Laloo Prasad Yadav government in 1997 as "half-baked, vague and improper", senior RJD leader and former state minister Bhola Prasad Singh was strongly opposed to a division of Bihar alone. His support is for a Jharkhand to be carved out of the tribal-dominated districts of Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa.

UNI

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