THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Ranchi, Dec 1: In response to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s decision to send an all-party team to Assam to study tea tribes’ plight, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma today said that he too would send two delegations to study a few things in Jharkhand.
Sarma, however, did not specify the job for the Assam inspection team in Jharkhand.
Speaking to reporters in Guwahati, Sarma said, “In our cabinet on December 5, we will make some decisions regarding visiting some Jharkhand areas. We will also go and see two or three things there.”
Notably, Hemant Soren, in his first cabinet meeting on November 28, approved a proposal to form a team of all political parties and bureaucrats to study the plight of the “marginalised” tea tribes in Assam.
Hemant Soren’s decision came in the backdrop of the poll battle between the JMM-led coalition and NDA, in which Sarma repeatedly raised the issue of the “predicament” of Jharkhand’s tribal community due to alleged large-scale infiltration from Bangladesh.
On September 25, he had written to Sarma claiming the marginalisation of tea tribes from Jharkhand in Assam despite their significant contributions to the economy.
Soren had expressed grave concern about the community’s situation and advocated for their recognition as STs.
“We will be happy if somebody looks after us because we have so much work to do. They are sending one team here, but we will send two delegations to Jharkhand to see two special things. We will make a decision next week,” Sarma said.
Sarma, the BJP’s co-in-charge for the assembly elections in Jharkhand, said, “They will come to see us, we will also go to see them.”
The tea tribes in Assam have the status of Other Backward Classes.
