Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren has taken a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s decision to observe November 15 as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas (Tribals Pride Day).

Soren, who leads the JMM-led UPA government in Jharkhand, on Wednesday night tweeted a nearly six-minute interview to a private TV channel on his personal twitter handle in which the Janjatiya Gaurav Divas, held to mark the birth anniversary of tribal icon Birsa Munda by the Union government, is termed as a “political formula”.

“Though the Union government has decided to observe the day as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas a bit late (over seven years after coming to power in 2014). But merely celebrating a day and doing something to take the tribal community forward are two different things. We as a tribal-state have to literally beg for our rights from the Centre. In totality, the entire thing seems to be a political formula of the Centre,” says Soren in the interview shared on his personal Twitter handle @HemantSorenJMM.

Significantly, the Prime Minister had inaugurated a Birsa Munda Park and Museum at Ranchi on a virtual platform on November 15 from New Delhi and the Centre had announced of developing nine such tribal museums across the nation (Rajpipla in Gujarat, Lambasingi in Andhra Pradesh, Raipur in Chhattisgarh, Kozhikode in Kerala, Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh, Hyderabad in Telangana, Tamenglong in Manipur, Kelsih in Mizoram and Ponda in Goa).

Soren also spoke sarcastically about the support provided by the Centre to the tribal state of Jharkhand.

“If one takes a look at the Birsa Munda Park and Museum which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister, we had sought nearly Rs 150 crore but the Centre gave only Rs 25 crore and the remaining expense had to be borne by the state government.

“There should be equal and special support for backward and poor states like Jharkhand. We have been demanding special status but of no avail. It is not that the Central government does not know the financial situation of our state,” says Soren.

Incidentally, Bhagwan Birsa Munda Memorial Udyan cum Museum is built at a cost of Rs 142.31 crore (Rs 117.31 crore from the Jharkhand government and Rs 25 crore from the Union tribal affairs ministry).

Soren blamed the erstwhile BJP government for pushing Jharkhand into a financial problem. “The financial mess left over by the erstwhile BJP government (till 2019) has literally broken the backbone of our government. Then we have our money debited by Union government PSUs though several PSUs having their units in Jharkhand owe us thousands of crores.

“In addition, we are incurring revenue losses to thousands of crores due to reduction in Goods and Services Tax on coal and if the GST compensation is not extended the state’s development plan would receive a setback,” says Soren.

According to sources in the CM secretariat, the state is incurring nearly Rs 3,000 crore loss annually because of the reduction in coal as the state is dependent on revenues from coal and minerals. The GST compensation is still 2022 and the state has been repeatedly requesting the Centre to extend the GST compensation period to be extended to at least five years.

The tussle between the DVC and the Jharkhand government over the billing and payment of dues has been running since last year. In January this year, the Centre had deducted Rs 714 crore from the RBI account of Jharkhand for the part payment of dues to the DVC.

The Jharkhand government had objected to the action of the Centre. The DVC had threatened power cuts during Diwali for the realisation of outstanding dues worth Rs 4,124 crore.