Campaign members of Loktantra Bachao Abhiyan (save democracy campaign) have claimed that tribal villagers in the Kharsawan Assembly constituency under the Khunti parliamentary seat of Jharkhand are upset with the Narendra Modi government’s policies and will vote for INDIA bloc candidate on May 25.

Loktantra Bachao Abhiyan is a collective effort of right outfits and social workers in Jharkhand who have started a yatra across all the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies aiming to save democracy and constitutional values during the 2024 General Elections through mass contact journey.

The Kharsawan Assembly constituency assumes significance as BJP Khunti candidate and incumbent Union tribal affairs and agriculture minister Arjun Munda had represented the Assembly seat for four terms.

The Khunti parliamentary seat holds national importance as Prime Minister Modi launched the Vikshit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (aimed at saturating benefits of the central government schemes nationwide) on November 15 last year (the birth anniversary of tribal icon Birsa Munda whose birthplace is at Ulihatu in Khunti) at this constituency.

“We conducted the mass contact campaign between April 2 and 3 in over 20 villages of the Kharsawan Assembly segment in the Khunti parliamentary seat. During the campaign, people mostly tribal said that 10 years of Modi government has ruined normal life,” said Siraj Dutta, a member of the campaign.

“There has been continuous attack on jal (water), jungle (forests) and zameen (land) by the Centre. People remember the arbitrary and disastrous decisions like demonetization and lockdown. People are troubled by inflation. The wages of workers have not increased in 10 years and they are being made to work for 12 hours instead of 8 hours. Also, the deception of getting Rs 15 lakh in every account, 2 crore employment annually, doubling the income of farmers was on everyone's lips.”