Ranchi, Aug 22 (IANS) The Monsoon Session of the Jharkhand Assembly resumed on Friday, with members across party lines demanding that Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, be conferred on late Dishom Guru Shibu Soren, the architect of the Jharkhand movement.

Raising the demand during the condolence motion, Congress Legislature Party leader Pradeep Yadav said Soren had played a historic role in the struggle for a separate Jharkhand state, social reforms, and the rights of tribals and marginalised communities.

He urged that the House pass a unanimous resolution recommending Bharat Ratna in his honour. Several MLAs supported the demand with the thumping of desks.

JD(U) legislator Saryu Rai said Soren’s contributions as Dishom Guru deserved recognition at the national level.

AJSU Party MLA Nirmal Mahto also pressed for a House resolution and its submission to the Centre.

Jairam Mahto of the Jharkhand Democratic Revolutionary Front went a step further, calling for the installation of statues of Shibu Soren and leading statehood agitators atop Parasnath, the state’s highest peak.

Earlier, Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi paid tributes, recalling Shibu Soren’s role in prohibition, upliftment of tribal society, and the separate state movement of Jharkhand.

The House also condoled the deaths of former Education Minister Ramdas Soren, former Governor Satyapal Malik, veteran journalist Harinarayan Singh, and victims of recent natural disasters in Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir.

Following the condolence motion, proceedings were adjourned till Monday.

On the opening day, Finance Minister Radha Krishna Kishore presented a supplementary budget of Rs 4,296.62 crore.

The session, originally scheduled from August 1 to August 7, was postponed indefinitely after Shibu Soren’s death on August 4.

The session has been rescheduled, and now Monsoon Session will run from August 22 to August 28.

–IANS

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