Popular sentiment is in favour of the INDIA bloc

A member of the old guard in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Chief Minister Champai Soren has the difficult task of guiding the party and the coalition government in the state amid challenging circumstances.

- BY SONI MISHRA

INTERVIEW

CHAMPAI SOREN CHIEF MINISTER, JHARKHAND

The JMM veteran does not mince words as he takes on the BJP in an election season that assumes added significance for the party in view of former chief minister Hemant Soren’s arrest and the aggressive moves by the saffron party. In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK at his home office in Ranchi, Soren insists the INDIA bloc will reverse the trend of the BJP doing well in Lok Sabha polls in the state. He says the people have realised that everything Prime Minister Narendra Modi said was mere jumla (false promises). Excerpts:

Q/ What makes you confident about the INDIA bloc doing well in Jharkhand?

A/ If you look at the political atmosphere, it is clear that the popular sentiment is in favour of the INDIA bloc because the BJP does not have any concrete issue to talk about. The INDIA bloc, on the other hand, focuses on issues such as price rise, which has reached extreme levels, and unemployment which is beyond intolerable.

Q/ In 2019, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won 12 of 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand.

A/ The MPs belonging to the NDA have no vision for the state. They are asking for vote in the name of only one person. Don’t the MPs have any responsibility towards their constituencies? And the person whose name they are invoking has been making false promises and declarations since 2014.