Opposition seeks public disclosure of PESA cabinet proposal, flags civic poll issue

Jharkhand BJP president and Leader of the Opposition Babulal Marandi on Friday mounted a fresh attack on the Hemant Soren government, demanding that the Cabinet proposal related to the Panchayat Provisions (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act be made public without delay.

Addressing reporters, Marandi questioned why the Hemant Soren government was hesitant to place the Cabinet-approved proposal in the public domain. He said the reluctance raised doubts about whether certain provisions were being withheld from the people. According to him, while the government was projecting the Cabinet approval as a major achievement and facilitating public celebrations, it had failed to clearly explain the contents of the proposal.

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He argued that PESA directly concerns tribal communities, their traditional institutions, customs and systems of self-governance. Yet the very communities for whom the law is meant remained unaware of its actual provisions. At present, both the public and elected representatives were relying largely on media reports for information, he added. He urged the government to release the full text of the proposal to avoid confusion and misinformation.

Raising a separate issue, the BJP leader reiterated his party’s demand that urban local body elections be conducted on a party basis. He maintained that party-based elections encourage accountability and allow committed workers of political parties to serve people more effectively within the constitutional framework. Non-party elections, he alleged, tend to promote muscle and money power, which is unhealthy for democracy.

Commenting on the party’s internal deliberations, BJP Jharkhand in-charge and MP Laxmikant Vajpayee said the meeting held earlier in the day was purely organisational in nature. He said discussions focused on organisational matters and upcoming programmes, adding that senior leaders regularly meet to review party policies and activities.

Former chief minister Arjun Munda also criticised the government for not making the Cabinet decision public even after approving the PESA-related proposal. He described the delay as unfortunate and stressed that the PESA framework is rooted in customary traditions and governance systems of Scheduled Areas. Munda said the Act seeks to protect and promote ancient traditions of self-rule and should therefore be transparently placed before the people. He, too, called for the Cabinet-approved proposal to be released in the public domain at the earliest.