Ranchi, June 26: The state BJP president today said the government would pursue Chotanagpur and Santhal Pargana tenancy act amendment Bills afresh on a day the Opposition congratulated governor Droupadi Murmu for "understanding tribal pain" by returning them unsigned.
Laxman Gilua, who is also Singhbum MP, told The Telegraph over phone that there was no question of discarding the Bills on the day the leader of the Opposition Hemant Soren called a news conference to hail the governor's move and warn the government of "disastrous consequences" if it continued to pursue the amendments.
Some BJP members separately voiced fears of electoral damage if the Bills were pursued.
A Constitutional expert said the state government could amend the Bills, table them before the House and send them to the governor again for sanction. The government also could table the Bills before the House in their original form and send them to the governor again, in which case she could send them to the President. The government could also withdraw the Bills during any Assembly session or keep them in a limbo.
"The President must sign a Bill if it comes for a second time but the governor has the advantage of not being obligated to sign a Bill even the second time and send it to the President," the expert said.
Though chief minister Raghubar Das, in Jamshedpur today, remained silent on the issue, sources close to him are saying that he was looking at the BJP high command in Delhi, under whose orders he got the Bills passed in the Assembly last November, to make the next move.
While Gilua today denied speaking to the BJP high command, he did say that a fresh draft of the Bills would be prepared and the entire drill of getting their approvals from the cabinet, Tribal Advisory Council and tabling them in the House followed.
"I have spoken to the chief minister thrice since yesterday. I will soon convene a meeting of the party and the government on this matter. A fresh draft of the Bills will be prepared and we will follow the due process of law once again," Gilua said.
Gilua reiterated that the BJP and the state government would take all steps to safeguard property rights of adivasis (tribals) and moolvasis (original settlers). Asked how the BJP plans to tackle dissent on amendments within the party and public perception, Gilua said their party believed in "creating consensus".
However, he declined to reveal if the Bills would be tabled afresh in the Assembly's upcoming monsoon session.
There is no denying that tribal governor Murmu's act of sending the amendment Bills back to the government with reportedly 192 protest petitions from various organisations has given the BJP in Jharkhand a major jolt.
"People don't want any change in tenancy Acts. The party will face electoral damage if it goes ahead (with the Bills)," said a BJP MLA unwilling to be named.
Main Opposition party JMM is losing no opportunity to rub it in.
"The governor's refusal (to sign) is a big jolt to the government and a big win for the people. Politically it will be unwise and disastrous for the government to insist on the Bills afresh. The government should withdraw the Bills and review the local residents' policy approved last year that was designed to accommodate non-Jharkhandis in Jharkhand at the cost of tribals and original settlers," Hemant said.
The JMM will press for a debate on the Bills returned unsigned by the governor during the Assembly's monsoon session, he said.
Dropping a veiled reference to the stream of protests the CM faced after tabling the Bills, Hemant said Das knew well the "kind of return gifts he got from Jharkhand's people after tinkering with age-old tenancy land laws."
He added, "The Das government is 75 per cent finished. The rest will be finished very soon." Former Union minister and Congress leader Subodh Kant Sahay also held a separate news meet today to welcome Raj Bhavan's stand.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY
SUDHIR KUMAR MISHRA
