Mamata Banerjee 'hurt' by Jharkhand CM Soren's West Bengal rally; threatens tit-for-tat

Jharkhand Chief Minister and JMM working president Hemant Soren on Thursday held a rally Jhargram in poll-bound West Bengal, demanding the establishment of an autonomous council for the tribal-dominated Western part of the state. 

PTI sources in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) said that the party is keen to fight in a number of seats in the West Bengal assembly elections due in April-May this year and Thursday's well-attended public meeting is its show of strength in Jangal Mahal region.

'JMM will fight for interests of Adivasi people' 

Raking up an old demand of the tribal people of the area for setting up an autonomous council for the Western part of the state, Soren said, "The JMM will fight for the interests of the Adivasi people of West Bengal." Soren also attacked the BJP-led government at the Centre claiming that it has done nothing the tribal population.

The saffron party had bagged the Jhargram seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. "A Paschimanchal Autonomous Council should be formed under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution We are sure that the people here will actively fight to get what is due to them," he told the meeting held at Jamda area of Jhargram.

The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution deals with the administration and control of Scheduled Areas as well as of Scheduled Tribes residing in any state other than certain states in the North-Eastern region.

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Following the demand for an autonomous council, the Left Front government had set up Paschimanchal Unnayan Parshad in 2000 for the development of the 74 blocks in five districts in the western part of the state. A Department of Paschimanchal Unnayan Affairs was also created in July 2006. The JMM has some influence in at least three constituencies in Jangal Mahal but it had never won any seat in the state.

'I felt hurt': Mamata Banerjee

Meanwhile, Soren's visit has "hurt" West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and she has advised him to take care of his own state. Reacting to Soren's demand, Mamata Banerjee said, "I felt hurt. I had gone to Hemant Soren's swearing-in as Chief Minister (in 2019) and had supported him a lot."

Banerjee said that if the JMM working president can come to West Bengal and seek votes of the tribal people, she can also go to Jharkhand where a large number of Bengalis live and ask for their votes. "We do everything for the people living in the state," she said.

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(With PTI inputs)