Police lathicharge BJP workers holding protest against Jharkhand govt

Ranchi, April 11 The police on Tuesday resorted to a lathicharge and used water cannons on BJP workers protesting against the Jharkhand government in Ranchi.

The BJP workers had gathered to lay siege to the Secretariat against the policies of the Hemant Soren-led government.

Several BJP workers and mediapersons reportedly suffered injuries in the ensuing clashes with the police.

Apart from Union Ministers Arjun Munda and Annapurna Devi, all BJP MPs and MLAs of Jharkhand also participated in the protest.

With the slogan of 'Hemant Hatao, Jharkhand Bachao', thousands of saffron party workers from all over the state gathered at the Prabhat Tara Maidan in Dhurwa, Ranchi. From there, they marched in procession to lay siege to the Secretariat when the police tried to stop them.

BJP MP Sunil Singh and party MLA Biranchi Narayan broke the police barricading and reached the Secretariat premises, where they had been detained by the state police. Hundreds of BJP workers, including the party's Mahila Morcha President Aarti Kujur, have been detained as well.

The Jharkhand BJP unit had announced to lay siege to the Secretariat on Tuesday, accusing the Jharkhand government of indulging in corruption, scams and failure on various governance fronts.

Earlier, thousands of BJP workers from all over the state had gathered at the Prabhat Tara Maidan where party leaders addressed them. Union Minister Arjun Munda said that the ruling Hemant Soren government was involved in massive corruption.

Union Minister of State for Education, Annapurna Devi, said, "The people of the state are no longer ready to tolerate the atrocities committed by the state government. Let us all take a pledge here that now we will not allow the state government to loot the taxpayer's money. This government has to be thrown out from the land of Jharkhand."

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das said that the massive public gathering in the sweltering heat foretells that the Hemant Soren government will be overthrown soon.

State BJP President and MP Deepak Prakash, former Chief Ministers Babulal Marandi and Raghubar Das, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, Bidyut Baran Mahato, V.D. Ram, BJP MLA Raj Sinha, J.P. Patel, BJP Regional Organisation Minister Nagendra, State party in-charge and MP Laxmikant Bajpai also addressed the public meeting.

After addressing a public meeting, BJP leaders and workers marched towards the Secretariat following which the police stopped them and a scuffle took place between BJP workers and the police personnel.