THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Ranchi, May 2: Jharkhand Party (JP) candidate Arpana Hans today said that the BJP has represented the Khunti parliamentary constituency for 45 years and yet did nothing for Adivasis and Moolwasis.
Arpana, toiling hard to regain the support base of the Jharkhand Party in Khunti, said only four non-BJP candidates have been elected from Khunti since 1962 and two (Jaipal Singh Munda and NE Horo) of them belonged to the Jharkhand Party.
Jharkhand Party will regain glory
“So, I have inherited a rich legacy and am confident that her party will regain its past glory,” she said while speaking with The Jharkhand Story.
Arpana, a graduate of Ranchi University, said that the Khunti voters blessed BJP candidate Arjun Munda in 2019 but he could not become a voice of Khunti. He never raised the problems being faced by the voters in Khunti, she added.
“Munda also held the Agriculture portfolio and yet he did nothing to promote scientific farming in Khunti,” she said.
“There is no agriculture market committee in Khunti and farmers are forced to sell their produce in the local markets,” she pointed out.
“He did nothing to create job opportunities in Khunti. As a result, people from Khunti continue to migrate in large numbers,” she added.
Congress considers minorities as vote bank
Arpana, who writes her profession as a business in the affidavit, didn’t spare the Congress too. “The Congress always considered the minorities as a vote bank. There are over 4.50 lakh Christians in the Khunti parliamentary constituency and yet it picked up a candidate (Kalicharan Munda) from the RSS family. He can never be the voice of Khunti,” she lamented.
She rubbished the speculation that the Christians are polarised to vote in favour of the Congress.
“Why should they (Christians) vote for the Congress?” she asked.
Christians are not obliged to vote for Congress
“There is no compulsion for the Christians to vote for the Congress,” she asserted.
“The Congress has not fielded any Christian candidate in Jharkhand. It just used the minorities as a vote bank and crushed the rights of Christians to fight elections,” she asserted.
Arpana confident of victory
“That is the reason I have come forward to challenge the hegemony of both the BJP and the Congress. I am confident that the voters, cutting across religious divides will repose faith in her,” she asserted.
Church is not angry with her
Arpana, earlier, the district secretary of the All-Churches Committee, also denied that the Church is angry with her.
“It happens to be a religious organisation. So, I resigned from the post after I joined the electoral fray,” she said and rubbished the rumour that she had been sacked by the Church.
She said that the Jharkhand Party is the ‘Mati ki party’ which fought for a separate state of Jharkhand. “We have always fought for the rights and dignity of the people of Jharkhand,” she added.
Arpana said her leader (Anosh Ekka) was implicated in a false case in 2014. “So, the party faced some reversals. Now, he is out and working hard to regain the foothold in the constituency. I am confident that the people will bless her to become the voice of Khunti in the Lok Sabha,” she said.