Hans News Service Bhubaneswar

INDIA bloc on Tuesday announced an Odisha bandh on October 8 to demand the repeal of the new mining law and two other issues, as members of the alliance staged a demonstration near Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s residence here. Hundreds of workers and leaders of bloc partners such as the Congress, CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) Liberation, Forward Bloc, NCP, Samajwadi Party and RJD took part in the rally.

The protesters had earlier planned to gherao the Assembly but shifted their focus to the Chief Minister’s residence after the monsoon session was adjourned sine die a day earlier. “The BJP government adjourned the Assembly sine die instead of answering our questions on the MMDR Bill, ‘vote chori’ and CEC Gyanesh Kumar. But they can’t adjourn the people’s questions. We are staging agitation before the CM’s residence,” Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhakta Charan Das said.

The protesters clashed with security personnel after police stopped them from marching towards the Chief Minister’s residence. Some supporters broke through the barricades and courted arrest, while several others were taken into custody for allegedly violating the law, a senior police officer said.

Addressing the gathering, Das announced the statewide bandh for October 8 and appealed to people to join it. The demands include repeal of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Amendment Act, 2026, resignation of Odisha School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond over alleged errors in school textbooks, and resignation and arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Das said the Congress and its INDIA bloc partners would ensure that the bandh was observed peacefully across the state.

The INDIA bloc will also organise a demonstration in mineral-rich Kendujhar district on October 7 against the new mining law, he said. The bloc claimed that Odisha would lose around Rs 1 lakh crore and Rs 12,000 crore annually following implementation of the new mining law. It said rallies and economic blockades would be organised across key mining belts on October 8 to halt mineral extraction and transportation.

The alliance alleged that the MMDR Amendment Act, 2026, would affect the rights and economic interests of mineral-rich states such as Odisha. The protesters also demanded protection of water, forests and land, tribal rights, and the livelihoods and rights of mine workers and local residents in mining areas.

“The principal demands of the protest are repeal of the MMDR Amendment Act, 2026, protection of Odisha’s mineral rights and financial autonomy, and safeguarding the state’s mineral resources from corporate plunder,” CPI(M) Odisha state secretary Suresh Chandra Panigrahy said.

State BJP president Manmohan Samal criticised the Congress, alleging that the party had a habit of opposing government initiatives. “They were opposing GST, mining reforms also. The Congress has lost its identity among the people,” Samal said. BJP general secretary Biranchi Narayan Tripathy also attacked the Congress.

“Earlier the mines were being distributed among Congress leaders and their families. As PM Narendra Modi stopped it, the Congress is raising its voice to protect the interest of their leaders,” he said.