PATNA: The Jharkhand movement took a new turn Monday with the all Jharkhand student’s union member of the legislative assembly in eastern India Surya Singh Besra resigning from the assembly and his party announcing a strike in the tribal areas on August 22.

The party would also resort to an economic blockade from November 1 to 14.

Besra handed over his resignation letter to the speaker Ghulam Sarvar who said that his resignation would be accepted “as handing over of the resignation letter to me is final”.

Later talking to newsmen Besra and his party chief Prabhakar Tirkey lashed out at the MM for scuttling the efforts at forming a separate state” and announced their future course of action

Donning green head bands while talking to media men they announced that the strike would be observed in all the 24 tribal districts in the four states of Bihar West Bengal Orissa and Madhya Pradesh.

They said that in course of the fort nightlong economic blockade the AJSU activists would stop the movement of trains and minerals.

The AJSU had launched a similar movement in 1990 when rail and road transport services were affected particularly in Singbhum and Ranchi districts.

Replying to a question Besra said that he was relinquishing his Ghatsila (st) seat in protest against the Jharkhand development council bill which his party described as a “lollypop”.

He said that as the lone AJSU member of the house he wanted to oppose the bill and speak against it “But the speaker did not allow me Then I registered my protest by staging a walkout” he said.

Condemning the JMM for “scouting the efforts of the agitationists to carve out a separate Jharkhand state” Besra said that the JMM frittered away a golden chance when the National Front was in power at the center and the JD in the state.

The JMM was supporting both the Govt’s and it would have been easy for it to force the Govt to concede the demand he said.

Asked if the AJSU would pressurize the JMM legislators to resign from the house Besra said the tribal people would force them to do so. “We have done what we felt was right” he said.

Tirkey said that the AJSU would force the center to stop payment of royalty to the state “as 80% of the minerals come from the tribal areas.”

He said the AJSU would prepare a common strategy for a separate state soon and made it clear that “our fight is against the exploitation of tribals and not against the non-tribals.

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