‘We Have Curbed Violence In Jharkhand, People Are Now Breathing Easy'

With the double engine government — Modiji at the Centre and the BJP at the State — people have tasted development, they’ll vote us back, says Chief Minister

- Nistula Hebbar

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das speaks on the BJP’s electoral prospects in the Assembly election in the State.

What are the achievements of your five-year tenure that you are going to the people with?

The biggest achievement of the past five years is security. In Jharkhand, it was difficult for people to move around after 5 p.m. for fear of terrorists, even to move from Ranchi to Palamu or Ranchi to Lohardaga. People are now breathing easy as, leaving aside possibly three districts near the borders, we have managed to exercise a firm control over such violence.

Because of this secure environment, we have been able to bring roads and electricity to such areas. For example, there is a village called Garu in Latehar, from where Sudhakaran, who recently surrendered in Hyderabad because of our pressure, used to terrorise the populace. Now, we have been able to provide electricity and roads to such places. People’s confidence in the government, therefore, has grown.

Our surrender policy has also been appreciated, where in the earlier 14 years, only five surrenders happened, under our government, 61 terrorists have surrendered.

If the State is so secure then why election in five phases?

There was a five-phase poll in 2014 for both Lok Sabha and Assembly, and the 2019 Lok Sabha. The ebbing of terror in Jharkhand does not mean that it’s gone from bordering areas or that provocation will not be done while elections are on. We have to take precaution for at least a year as we share borders with terrorism-affected States. The Opposition can make whatever accusations they want.

After what happened in Maharashtra and Haryana, isn’t keeping a target of 65-plus over-ambitious?