Jharkhand Police detain 14,000 bandh supporters, gets little media attention

Protesting against the amendments made in the Land Acquisition Act (2013), the united opposition in Jharkhand called for a state-wide bandh on July 5. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government also geared up to ensure that Jharkhand bandh remains ineffective and heavy security deployments were made in several districts.

Despite this, the strike called by the opposition parties, including Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM), the Congress party and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), largely brought the state to a standstill.

While a large section of national news channels remained focussed on Delhi Vs Centre Supreme Court verdict and launch of Jio’s new phone, news coverage related to the detention of thousands of bandh supporters remained limited.

According to Prabhat Khabar, by 2.30 pm, Jharkhand Police had detained at least 14,000 political workers and bandh supporters across 24 districts of the state. This includes two former Chief Ministers, Hemant Soren and Babulal Marandi, state chiefs of Congress and RJD respectively, and several other opposition leaders.

Earlier, the governing Bharatiya Janata Party had termed the opposition’s move to call for today’s protest and bandh unconstitutional and unlawful.

The united opposition is protesting against the amendments made to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. The BJP government has done away with the Social Impact Assessment clause from the act for acquisition by the government for specific purposes. These amendments have also received the President’s assent, according to BJP state chief Laxman Gilua.