All on the name of Marathi Manus

Jharkhand MPs’ silence on MNS sends wrong signal

Vijay Deo Jha Ranchi Friday, October 24, 2008

Even though the Winter Session of Parliament is likely to conclude on Friday and the stormy protest against the regional cleansing drive undertaken by Raj Thackeray can be witnessed in Bihar and Jharkhand, the elected representatives from Jharkhand found no time to raise their voice during the session.

A fact on record and even accepted by the MPs reveals that while at a time the MPs of Bihar stormed Parliamentary session, the MPs of Jharkhand remained silent more or less.

The episode even kept the winter session of Parliament on boils, where cutting across party line MPs, prominently from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, demanded stringent actions against MNS chief.

Although the Union Minister of Food and Supply appeared on the television along with LJP chief condemned Thackeray and his ilk for their alleged attack on the students of Bihar and Jharkhand. During the telephonic conversation with The Pioneer, Sahai said, "I have been in touch with the DGP and requested him to make every effort to bring Thackeray on transit remand." A case has been lodged against the MNS chief in Jamshedpur and warrant has been issued against him.

While accepting the fact partially, Furkan Ansari, MP Godda, said Jharkhand MPs equally demanded actions against Thackeray. "This act an act of vendetta and ugly demonstration of regionalism by Thackeray which must be protested," he added. A senior Congress leader and MP showed concern over the repeated silence of the MPs of Jharkhand and said that it indeed sent wrong signals among the people about their representatives who can stand united to raise the issue for the larger interest of the State. It may be recalled that the UPA managed 13 seats in the last Parliamentary elections.

The MPs from Jharkhand in the Rajya Sabha also remained silent or least affected while the state capital as well as the other parts of the state was agog with the first hand narration of the gory tell of MNS vandalism. But the newly elected Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Jayaprakash Narayan Singh contested it by saying that the party was equally sensitive towards the enormity of the issue.

However, reactions on the part of students who barely managed to return to their home safely are sharp. A senior politician quipped that the MPs of Jharkhand virtually turned the state in a political ghetto.