VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, March 30: When former Congress minister Yogendra Sao pushed his daughter Amba Prasad (34) into electoral politics as his successor, she was too young and immature for politics. She contested and won the Barkagaon assembly seat as the Congress candidate in the 2019 assembly election.
That was a sudden change of profession from a rookie advocate to a young politician of Jharkhand. After her father and mother Nirmala Devi she is the third member of her family to represent this seat.
Often impatient and childish, she is slowly turning mature. But despite the Congress being a key partner of the Hemant Soren-led government, and she enjoys a very good relationship with the chief minister, she is among the politicians of the Congress who are dissatisfied with the government.
“My parents showed complete loyalty towards the chief minister and the government and the same should have been reciprocated with an equal gesture. I feel disappointed when I see the suffering of my parents and my inability to secure justice for them,” Amba Prasad told Lagatar24.com.
She said her mother was an MLA when the Rajya Sabha election took place. The court had restricted her entry into Jharkhand. “The BJP was pressurizing my mother not to turn up for voting so that the JMM candidate Basant Soren is defeated. My mother risked her life and she secretly travelled in the car of Hemant Soren to the assembly and voted. One should not forget,” she said.
Last week her parents Yogendra Sao and Nirmala Devi were sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment in the October 2016 Barkagaon police firing case. They were opposing the NTPC coal mining in Chirudih on the issue of compensation and others. Four civilians had died in the police firing.
She has long been demanding the leadership of her party and the Hemant Soren government to ensure justice for her parents. “My parents were falsely implicated. They are paying the price for raising the voice of the people. I met the state and central leadership of my party on a number of occasions. I met and petitioned the CM on several occasions to give justice to my parents. I demand a special inquiry to bring the truth. The CM only gave the assurance he did not do anything,” she said.
Notably, her supporters from the Hazaribagh district held a demonstration at the Congress headquarters in Ranchi on Tuesday and also raised some anti-government cries. They met Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur. At the same time, she was at the Raj Bhawan along with BJP MLA Dhullu Mahto to submit a memorandum to the Governor to demand the OBC reservation.
However, top sources in Congress said that undoing the court judgment was not in the hands of the government.
“The conviction can be challenged at the High Court. She is a lawyer and she must be knowing that after the judgment has been pronounced the government can’t do anything. The stage of the intervention of the state government has gone,” said a senior Congress leader.
But she retorted those who are trying to maintain distance from her case. “We have been raising this issue for the past two years. After the firing incident, all top leaders of the opposition had visited Barkagaon. Hemant Soren, Subodh Kant Sahay, Babulal Marandi everybody had come. I remember Hemant Soren had written a letter to the then Governor in support of my parents and people who were fighting for their rights,” she recalled.
Her parents are in jail, she stays with her brother Ankit in Hazaribagh. “My mission is to bring my parents back and restore their honour. When I joined politics people said that I am too young and inexperienced. But time is a great teacher,” she said. Outside, she introduces herself as a college student. At the airport, security staff often wonder and recheck whether this young girl is an MLA or impersonating. When Rahul Gandhi invited Jharkhand Congress MLAs, the security did not allow her inside the meeting room stating that kids of MLAs are not allowed.
Amba Prasad laughs over such incidents but she turns livid when asked why her parents were not rewarded suitably for their loyalty.
