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Decode Politics: PM Modi says JMM ally RJD once opposed Jharkhand. Did it?

Decode Politics: PM Modi says JMM ally RJD once opposed Jharkhand. Did it?

Decode Politics: PM Modi says JMM ally RJD once opposed Jharkhand. Did it?

In his campaign for the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, while slamming the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Congress alliance, said that the RJD had opposed the formation of Jharkhand as a separate state but the JMM joined hands with the RJD to form the government in the state.

The records of parliamentary proceedings show that the RJD MPs had in principle supported the formation of Jharkhand, but had raised various concerns while calling it a “politically motivated” move by the NDA-ruled Centre. They had also pointed out that the Lalu Prasad-led RJD government had passed a resolution in the Bihar Assembly in July 1997 for the formation of Jharkhand as a separate state.

On Wednesday, hitting back at the BJP, the RJD reiterated that the party was not opposed to the formation of Jharkhand but to the “unjust” distribution of resources between Jharkhand and Bihar from which the tribal state was carved out.

Jharkhand was one of the three new states that were created in 2000 during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government with the other two being Chhattisgarh (carved out from Madhya Pradesh) and Uttaranchal (now Uttarakhand, carved out from Uttar Pradesh).

Then Union Home Minister L K Advani moved the Bihar Reorganisation Bill in the Lok Sabha on August 2, 2000, following which it was passed. The Rajya Sabha passed the Bill on August 11 that year and the state of Jharkhand officially came into existence on November 15, 2000.

Demanding the withdrawal of the Bill, RJD MP from Vaishali, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh charged that Jharkhand was being created for “political reasons”. “On the basis of all the documents and proof, I would like to say that Jharkhand is not going to develop with these arrangements. It will remain poor and so will Bihar. They (BJP-led Centre) are forming a new state for political reasons. If you are not forming it keeping political considerations, why are you spending so little?” Singh had said and demanded that the Bill be referred to a Standing Committee or a Joint Committee or a Joint Select Committee. The RJD’s Maharajganj MP, Prabhunath Singh too echoed Raghuvansh’s views.

Nagmani, the Chatra MP, pointed out that the Bihar Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution in support of Jharkhand’s formation. “We, on behalf of the RJD, want to say that the state of Jharkhand may be created. But we demand a special package to make good the damages caused by the annual floods,” he had said.

Samata Party MP from Khagaria, Renu Kumari too supported the formation of the new state and also highlighted the resolution passed in the Bihar Assembly. “No one was expecting that a year after the Lalu government passed the resolution supporting the formation of Jharkhand, the head of the government (Lalu, although his wife Rabri Devi was then CM) would say that the state would be formed over his dead body and that the people of North-Central Bihar would face starvation,” she said.

Replying to the debate, Advani said the Centre would be accountable and will tackle the financial difficulties of Bihar.

“When small states were created, prima-facie it seemed that these will not be viable economically. Still, they desired that their state should be created… The reason behind this desire is that they want their identity to shine… Though it may not be financially viable, it has its importance and everyone knows the importance of financial viability. It becomes the duty of the nation to worry about the financial viability of a state,” Advani said.

The RJD maintains that Lalu was not opposed to the formation of Jharkhand but only wanted “justice in division”. “After bifurcation, while 80% of Bihar’s resources went to Jharkhand, 80% of the population stayed in Bihar. Modi must answer why economic injustice was meted out to Bihar during division,” RJD national spokesperson Nawal Kishore said.

After the inception of Jharkhand, the RJD’s political fortunes in the new state declined. In the first Jharkhand Assembly elections held in 2005, the party won only seven of the 51 seats it contested. Five years later, it won only five of the 56 seats it contested.

In the 2014 polls, the RJD contested 14 seats but drew a blank while in 2019, it contested seven seats but managed to win only one – Chatra.

In the upcoming polls, the RJD will contest seven seats as part of the incumbent JMM-led alliance which also include the Congress and the CPI (ML)L.

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