Making stricter laws and imposing them on the citizens with an iron fist may not lead to positive changes in the society, Chief Minister Hemant Soren said while addressing a ceremony on the 20th anniversary of Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha in Ranchi on Sunday.

“Imposing stricter laws on the people cannot lead to a better society. We have to create a society, wherein people respect each other irrespective of caste, community, gender and religion,” Soren said.

Unity in diversity, he said, was the beauty of India, and the people of the country should stay united in order to see progress and development. Stating the example of the Vidhan Sabha as the largest “Panchayat” in the State, the Chief Minister said that all members of the Assembly were equal.

Soren also thanked his fellow legislators for fighting the Covid-19 crisis as a team and helping Jharkhand check the spread of the deadly virus. The CM said the Covid-19 situation in Jharkhand was better in comparison to many other States in India, but the fight was not over yet.

“Our fight against this pandemic is not over yet. I would urge all the residents of our state to abide by the rules and take necessary precautions, as that is the only way we can deal with the situation,” he added.

For the first time since the formation of Jharkhand, the anniversary celebration of Vidhan Sabha was held in absence of a Leader of Opposition on Sunday, triggering indirect jibes against the government from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders.

The chief whip of the BJP, Biranchi Narayan, used the platform of the 20th anniversary ceremony of Vidhan Sabha to lament over the absence of BJP-backed Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi, the first Chief Minister of Jharkhand.

“It would have been nice had Leader of Opposition, Babulal Marandi, attended this event. Leader of Opposition is one of the pillars of the Assembly and Babulalji’s absence gives a sense of incompleteness as we celebrate 20 years of our State Assembly,” Narayan said.

Former Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) chief Babulal Marandi and two of his fellow party leaders — Pradeep Yadav and Bandhu Tirkey — are yet to get the assembly speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato’s nod as MLAs of parties they joined after winning the 2019 elections as JVM-P candidates. While Marandi joined BJP, Yadav and Tirkey moved to the Congress party.

However, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has accepted them as MLAs of the parties they joined after winning the elections.