Jharkhand CM holds rally in poll-bound Bengal; Mamata says she is hurt

Jharkhand Chief Ministerand JMM working president Hemant Soren on Thursday held arally here in poll-bound West Bengal's Jhargram district,demanding establishment of an autonomous council for thetribal-dominated Western part of the state.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said thatshe was ''hurt'' that Soren came to Jhargram for politicalpurposes and advised him to take care of his own state.

Sources in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) said thatthe party is keen to fight in a number of seats in the WestBengal assembly elections due in April-May this year andThursday's well-attended public meeting is its show ofstrength in Jangal Mahal region.

Raking up an old demand of the tribal people of thearea for setting up an autonomous council for the Western partof the state, Soren said, ''The JMM will fight for theinterests of the Adivasi people of West Bengal.'' The JMM leader also attacked the BJP-led government atthe Centre claiming that it has done nothing the tribalpopulation.

The BJP is also selling off the assets of the country,he claimed.

The saffron party had bagged the Jhargram seat in the2019 Lok Sabha polls.

''A Paschimanchal Autonomous Council should be formedunder the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution We are sure thatthe people here will actively fight to get what is due tothem,'' he told the meeting held at Jamda area of Jhargram.

The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution deals with theadministration and control of Scheduled Areas as well as ofScheduled Tribes residing in any state other than certainstates in the North Eastern region.

Following the demand for an autonomous council, theLeft Front government has set up Paschimanchal Unnayan Parshadin 2000 for the development of the 74 blocks in five districtsin the western part of the state. A Department ofPaschimanchal Unnayan Affairs was also created in July, 2006.

The JMM has some influence in at least threeconstituencies in Jangal Mahal but it had never won any seatin the state.

Reacting to Soren's demand, Mamata Banerjee, who isalso the Trinamool Congress supremo, said, ''I felt hurt. I hadgone 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 cancome to West Bengal and seek votes of the tribal people, shecan also go to Jharkhand where a large number of Bengalis liveand ask for their votes.

''We do everything for the people living in the state,''she said.