RANCHI, Jan. 9 -- Asserting that the PESA Rules notified by the Hemant Soren government were against the provisions of the PESA Act, 1996, Leader of the Opposition Babula Marandi on Thursday urged the INDIA bloc regime to reconsider the rules and make adequate amendments, or else the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would take the issue to the "people's court", "which is the final arbiter in a democracy".

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Marandi, who is also the Jharkhand BJP chief, alleged that by diluting the very basics of the PESA Act, the Hemant government wants to appoint those who have abandoned traditional beliefs and worship practices as gram sabha chairpersons.

Marandi argued that section 4(a) of the PESA A...