The blunders committed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Jharkhand in the past have returned to haunt it in the recently held assembly elections in which the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led alliance made a virtual sweep.
Instead of projecting an Adivasi as the chief ministerial face, the saffron party made a big mistake — it unnecessarily raked up the issue of Bangladeshi infiltrators when there was absolutely no scope for it to woo voters. It failed to learn the lesson that the installation of Raghubar Das, who has ancestral roots in neighbouring Chhattisgarh and does not belong to the tribal community, as the chief minister in 2014 and his government’s policy, was fully exploited by the JMM.
Apart from this the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), especially the BJP’s coalition partner All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) led by 50-year old Sudesh Mahto, could not read the writing on the wall. AJSU has now been reduced to a party of Kurmi-Mahtos, who comprise something between 20-25% of Jharkhand’s population. The NDA grossly under-estimated the capability of 30-year old Jairam Mahto’s newly floated Jharkhand Loktantarik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM), which substantially cut-into its vote-bank.
Mahtos, who among other things are seeking tribal status, which they enjoyed till 1931, felt let down by the BJP-AJSU combine. That is why many of them reposed their faith on young Jairam, who too intensively campaigned against the outsiders.
Also read: As BJP-JMM Face Off in the Jharkhand Assembly Polls, Voters Choose Between Welfare and Polarisation
Hordes of CM faces
Against the INDIA bloc, which has Hemant Soren as its leader, the NDA has an army of chief ministerial aspirants. State BJP president Babulal Marandi, former Union minister Arjun Munda, Odisha governor Raghubar Das and the latest entry into the party fold, Champai Soren, had all served at this post and were eyeing it once again. Not only that, Sita Soren, the eldest daughter-in-law of JMM patriarch Shibu Soren, resigned from the party in February and joined the BJP in protest against Hemant’s decision to name Champai as the chief minister following his arrest on January 31.
Ironically, now both Sita and Champai are in the BJP. While Champai retained his Saraikela seat, Sita, after losing the Lok Sabha poll, lost the assembly election too. Former chief ministers Madhu Koda and Arjun Munda’s wives Geeta Koda and Meera Munda too lost the election on BJP tickets. Geeta had faced a loss in the Lok Sabha elections too.
Additionally, many believe that the tribal community feared another non-tribal candidate from the BJP would assume power if the party won the elections. The name of Godda MP Nishikant Dubey, was also among them.
Anti-Dikku sentiment
The JMM fully exploited the anti-Dikku (outsider) sentiment of the tribal community. The brutal crackdown on the tribal agitation against the land acquisition policy of the Das government between 2014 and 2019 is fresh in their mind. The tribal community and now even a section of Mahtos – who until recently supported the NDA – have come to realise that it is the BJP who stands for the outsiders and the corporate lobby.
The saffron party top brass paid no attention to these developments. Instead, it got Hemant Soren arrested – a move which backfired. The party lost all the five ST reserved seats in the Lok Sabha election to the JMM-Congress combine. The BJP-AJSU, however, won all the nine general seats.
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Five months later the situation has changed considerably. The NDA made no substantial efforts to keep a check on the emergence of Jairam Mahto, who managed to make inroads into NDA’s Kurmi-Mahto votebank. Instead, the Sangh parivar crudely tried to capitalise on the developments which took place in Bangladesh after the ouster of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The BJP raised a baseless issue of Bangladeshis infiltrators marrying tribal girls. The propaganda failed but the allegation—founded or unfounded – exposed the BJP-led Union government’s own failure to control infiltration as the Border Security Force, which mans the international boundary with Bangladesh, comes under the Union home ministry headed by Amit Shah. The party thoughtlessly scored a self-goal.
Challenge for the BJP
It needs to be mentioned that the JMM was established in 1972 by Shibu Soren (Hemant’s father), Binod Bihari Mahto and A.K. Roy – a trio of Adivasi, Kurmi-Mahto and a Marxist Bengali. Initially, the party was considered as left-leaning as the leaders launched a campaign against the money-lenders (Mahajans), liquor barons, coal mafia etc.
The firebrand JMM leaders waged a war against the outsiders who came from central and north Bihar, UP, Rajasthan, Gujarat, southern India and West Bengal. The locals charged the outsiders with dominating business, jobs and exploiting the tribals as well as Kurmi-Mahatos.
Finally, their demand for a separate tribal state was met with the creation of Jharkhand on November 15, 2000.
However, over the years, JMM weakened and landed into controversies while the BJP made a big dent into its vote bank.
But the BJP’s grip on the tribal community declined after the installation of Das as the chief minister. The tribal community started suspecting its design and the JMM bounced back to power in 2019, further consolidating its position in 2024.
Now the Kurmi-Mahtos too are showing signs of drifting away from the BJP. The saffron party will face an uphill task if the tribals and Kurmi-Mahtos join hands as in the heydays of JMM. They together form more than half of the state’s population.
The stunning defeat of the BJP in Jharkhand marred, to some extent, the celebration in the saffron camp after a big victory in Maharashtra.