Ahead of the General elections in 2024, a war of words is going on in Jharkhand. 

On one side is the ruling JMM leader and Chief Minister Hemant Soren. On another side is BJP leader and ex-CM Raghubar Das.

The subject of dispute between them is the issue of mob lynching in the state.

Two days back in Giridih, CM Hemant Soren had said that the state is free from mob lunching. He said:” Before 2019( during Raghubar Das-led BJP rule in the state), mob lunching used to take place.” 

Now, the scene is not like the past”, claimed Soren. In fact,24-year-old Tabrez Ansari was beaten to death for allegedly attempting burglary at a house in Dhatkidih village on the intervening night of June 17-18, 2019 when Raghubar Das was the CM. 

However, responding to Soren’s claim, Raghubar Das took a sharp dig at him by counter-claiming that incidents of mob lynching have increased during the tenure of Soren. 

To make his memory fine, Raghubar Das cited a case, saying,“ The whole country has not forgotten the way Sanju Pradhan and Rupesh Pradhan were lynched by the mob.”

“Due to your weak leadership, the condition of law and order has collapsed in the state and you keep speaking lies. Instead of making false statements and aggravating the Muslim community, you should have spoken the truth after gaining crime data from police administration about mob lynching.” 

Further by taunting CM Hemant Soren, ex-CM Raghubar Das posted crime data for the past three years- 2020-2023 on social media X( previously it was called Twitter).

These crime data are as follows: 
* May 11, 2020: On allegations of theft of a goat, Subhan Ansari was beaten to death.
* January 2022: Sanju Pradhan was lynched in Simdega. 

*June 2020: On the allegation of theft of a goat, Bablu Shah was murdered and Uchit Yadav was thrashed. 

*March 2021: On the allegation of theft of a truck, Sachin Kumar Verma was beaten to death in Ranchi. 

*March 2021: Ramchandra Oraon was lynched by a mob in Gumla.

*February 2022: During the immersion function of the Saraswati Puja, Rupesh Pandey was murdered. 

*October 2022: Ezaz Khan was murdered in Gumla. 

*May 2023: Sibal Ganjhu and Boni Devi were murdered in Latehar.

*May 2023: The crowd lynched Mithun Singh Kharwar in Ranchi. 

* February 2023: Mob lynched Siwansh in Ranchi. 

The statement and claim made by Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren in Giridih recently that during his tenure “ mob lynching has become history” has evoked sharp criticisms in social media too.

Even the crime data including the incidents of mob lunching during his tenure since 2019  have been going viral on social media. “

*Disclaimer: The data and views expressed in this article are those of the aforementioned leaders. These do not represent the views of JharkhandStateNews.com.We request the reader to think and consider it positively