Chief minister Hemant Soren on Monday expressed his concern over Sunday’s violence on JNU campus and blamed the “wrong policies” of the Narendra Modi government for the state of unrest in universities.
Asked by the media on the premises of the Assembly at Jagannathpur whether his government would follow in the footsteps of the Kerala Assembly which recently passed a resolution demanding the Centre roll back the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Hemant said he would like to consult his party leaders and alliance partners (the Congress and the RJD) first.
“I will first consult my party and alliance partners in this regard and let you know about this,” Hemant said, but his reluctance over the CAA was evident in an earlier interview to The Telegraph.
Calling the JNU campus violence “chintajanak”, Hemant said: “Education in almost all universities is affected. Students are agitating against the wrong policies of the Narendra Modi-led government,” he said.
Asked about his views on the CAA, BJP rebel-turned-Independent MLA Saryu Roy, who dislodged then CM Raghubar Das from home turf Jamshedpur East, said protesters instead of hitting the streets should move court instead.
He added: “Personally, I don’t see anything wrong in the CAA. But the BJP hurriedly formulated the law and passed it. It gave a message that the BJP as majority can do anything without taking the Opposition into confidence. In a democracy, all voices should be heard,” Roy said.
Hemant, who along with other elected MLAs on Monday took oath during the inaugural session of the Assembly, also passed an order to create new posts for proposed 22 fast-track courts across Jharkhand for speedy disposal of cases under the POCSO Act, where children are victims of sexual assault.