FIGHTING LAW WITH POLITICS

SOREN SAYS HE HAS NO REASON TO BE AFRAID OF CENTRAL AGENCIES LIKE THE ED OR CBI

- Amitabh Srivastava

Hemant Soren was never a cricketer, but with his back to the wall in the face of mounting legal challenges, the Jharkhand chief minister seems to have improvised a perfect T20 batsman’s strategy of stepping out to neutralise the adverse swing. The strategy was visible once again on November 11—just a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued him fresh summons for questioning in an alleged mining scam—when he convened a special assembly session to clear two crucial bills that are expected to earn him much popularity. One increases job reservation in Jharkhand to 77 per cent, and the other fixes 1932 as the cutoff year to determine domicile status and eligibility to be defined as a local resident. The strategy is clear—legal challenges are to be countered with political moves to gain an upper hand in the what-if scenarios.