Governor involved in my arrest

RANCHI: Arrested JMM leader and former Chief Minister Hemant Soren took to the floor of the Jharkhand Assembly on Monday to state that he fully supported Champai Soren and his government.

Jharkhand’s JMM-led coalition government headed by Chief Minister Champai Soren won the vote of confidence in the assembly, with 47 MLAs voting in favour of the confidence motion and 29 legislators opposing it in the 81-member assembly.

Taking part in the confidence motion moved by his successor, Champai, Hemant Soren alleged that the Raj Bhavan was instrumental in his arrest after a conspiracy was hatched by the Centre.

“A black night and a black chapter was added to the democracy of the country on the night of January 31. I think this is the first time in the country’s history that a Chief Minister was arrested inside the Raj Bhavan. I don’t remember if this has happened before or not. I feel Raj Bhavan has collaborated in this episode,” the JMM executive president said in the Jharkhand Assembly on Monday.

JMM legislature party leader Champai Soren took oath as the chief minister of Jharkhand on February 2, after Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last week in a money laundering case.

The ex-chief minister, who is in ED custody now, was allowed by a special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court to participate in the trust vote.

Lashing out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the former Chief Minister said, “I do not understand why the ruling (central) government has so much hatred towards adivasis and dalits…They don’t hesitate to say that we should remain in jungles. If we come out of the jungle, their graves will get dirty. They think that we are untouchables.”

He said that there is no value for the tears of the Adivalis, Dalits, and other marginalised groups in the country, adding that they would give a befitting answer to the injustices when the appropriate time came.