Chief minister Hemant Soren announced an annual ‘khadi grant’ of Rs 2,000 for every member of the Tana Bhagat sect on Saturday, the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
The idea is to help members of the sect that adheres to Gandhian ideals buy and maintain their signature attire (white khadi kurta/sari and cap),said government sources.
“Like policemen who get uniforms, we have now decided to provide Rs 2,000 per year to every Tana Bhagat. For the first time in 20 years, a government is in place which is sensitive to everyone’s needs and aspirations,” the chief minister said at Banhora on the outskirts of Ranchi where he inaugurated a guest house for Tana Bhagats built at a cost of Rs 2.73cr.
Hemant also unveiled a statue of Gandhi and Jatra Tanabhagat. In Ranchi, he began the day by garlanding the statue of the Mahatma. Governor Droupadi Murmu also paid he respects to the father of the nation.
State Congress president Rameshwar Oraon, who also garlanded the statue of the Mahatma, said that if Gandhi was alive today, he would have been highly “depressed” and “saddened” to see the plight of our “annadatas” under BJP rule.
State Congress leaders at the Gandhi statue at Morabadi in Ranchi on Saturday. Telegraph Picture
Speaking to the media here Oraon said that Gandhiji always stood for the rights of farmers.
“In Champaran (Bihar) he fought for farmers rights through non-violent means and was also behind the farmers in Kheda in Gujarat. Whenever any injustice was meted out to farmers, he would fight for them as they are the country’s annadata. He would have been sad and depressed seeing how farmers are being exploited, attacked and harassed today under BJP-led Union and state governments,” said the former IPS officer, alluding to police action against farmers organisations following widespread violence in Delhi during their tractor rally on Republic Day.
The Congress, he said, would continue to oppose the new farm laws and support protesting farmers through non-violent means till they are repealed.
On Sunday, Jharkhand Congress is scheduled to hold a 80-km tractor rally from Godda to Deoghar in Santhal Parganas in solidarity with protesting farmers.
Referring to Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Oraon said, “Like Gandhiji, Patel too fought many battles for farmers. However, the BJP, which often invokes Patel and Gandhiji’s names for its petty politics, has forgotten the virtues and principles they stood for. The BJP government in the Centre is hell bent on selling all farmland to private players only to help its corporate friends.”
