Clashes erupted between BJP workers and the police when they attempted to march towards the Jharkhand Secretariat here on Tuesday as part of their gherao programme, officials said.

Police used tear gas, water canons, and lathi-charged the protestors to prevent them from marching towards the secretariat, where prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPc have been clamped, they said. The march to the Jharkhand Secretariat as part of BJP’s gherao programme was organized to protest “deteriorating law and order, prevailing corruption and high rate of unemployment.”

BJP leaders and workers assembled near the secretariat shouting slogans against the Hemant Soren government and denounced the move as an "attempt to suppress the voice of the people".

"Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC were imposed in the area from the Project Building campus to Dhurwa Square. The orders were promulgated at 8 am and will continue till late evening. If need be, the prohibitory orders will be further extended," Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Rahul Sinha told PTI.

He said four or more people will not be allowed to assemble in the area.

"We have identified 20 locations where barricades have been set up. Sufficient numbers of police, fire brigade and Rapid Action Force personnel have been deployed," Sinha, who was camping at the spot, said.

He said schools in the area have been asked to keep a vigil on students.

"Traffic has been diverted and a total of 750 police personnel have been deployed, with a similar number on standby," he said.

State police spokesperson and IG Operations Amol V Homkar said security has been tightened in view of the agitation.

BJP leader and former chief minister Babulal Marandi said the imposition of prohibitory orders was an attempt to suppress the voice of the people.

"No matter how many tricks the Soren government employs, this agitation will be historic," Marandi said.

State BJP president and MP Deepak Prakash said it was time to show the exit gate to the Soren government.

He said the party selected the state secretariat for the stir as it is the place where the chief minister takes "wrong decisions and bureaucrats follow them".

Prakash had earlier said thousands of BJP workers from across Jharkhand will assemble at Prabhat Tara Ground in Ranchi and then march towards the secretariat building. He claimed that Jharkhand's unemployment rate is 14.3 per cent, which is double the figure of the national average of 7.20 per cent.

The coalition government of JMM, Congress and RJD had promised five lakh jobs every year in the election manifesto but it has provided only 537 jobs in the past three years, Prakash claimed.

Altogether 3.27 lakh government posts are vacant but the Hemant Soren government has no intention to provide jobs to the youths of the state, who are forced to migrate to other places for employment, he said.

Alleging that the appointments got delayed due to obstacles created by the opposition, Chief Minister Hemant Soren in a Twitter post on Monday had said, "The recruitment process has started. Yes, it is a fact that there was a delay in this due to anti-Jharkhand thinking of the opposition and the difficulties created by them. Ways have been opened for the hardworking youths of our state."

Terming the agitation by the BJP as a "political gimmick", JMM spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya said, "We are not taking it seriously, as this is just a political stunt of the BJP. People of the state know them well."

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