During a recent interview with The Indian Express, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren appeared relaxed and, when asked about his party JMM’s performance, said the BJP will bite the dust not only in rural but also in urban areas.

His prediction came true in Jharkhand Saturday, with the INDIA bloc set to win nearly three-fourths of the state’s 81 seats and to blank out the BJP in tribal seats. The only tribal constituency the BJP won was JMM dissenter Champai Soren’s victory in Saraikela. BJP tribal leader Babulal Marandi too won, but he contested from a general seat.

With 200-plus rallies, the husband-wife duo of Hemant Soren and Kalpana Soren led the JMM campaign, asking for votes for their welfare schemes: Maiyya Samman Yojna, a direct benefit transfer of Rs 1,000 to all underprivileged women between 18-50 years of age; waiver of power dues of 40 lakh families to the tune of Rs 3,500 crore; and universalisation of pension of Rs 1,000 to 40 lakh people in Jharkhand.

Kalpana lived true to the promise she showed as an orator after emerging from the shadows during Hemant’s five-month imprisonment, and effectively shouldered the campaign. Her appeal was seen as cutting across caste groups, with many JMM leaders asking for her to campaign for them.

The Sorens also tapped into Adivasi concerns, and conveyed that the tribal identity would be in danger under a BJP-led government.

For Hemant, it is a personal triumph after spending time in jail in the early part of the year over money laundering allegations, and carrying the bulk of the burden of the INDIA bloc campaign. Barring Champai, the JMM also managed to hold its flock together, with the feared exodus to the BJP not happening.

The biggest election plank of the BJP was alleged infiltration from Bangladesh taking away tribal land and jobs, while accusing the JMM-Congress-RJD coalition of appeasement politics.

The JMM did well in not countering the BJP on the specifics of its infiltration charge, but rather pointing to the fact that border security is the Centre’s remit. It did not even play up the fact that an affidavit filed by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs acknowledged immigration into Jharkhand but said that there was no indication of how much of it was from across the border.

A source in the JMM said: “We knew that the affidavit was in our favour, but we did not want to play on the BJP’s turf. So we just countered the allegations on the issue that the border was the responsibility of the Home Minister, and not the state government.”

Some BJP quarters admitted Saturday that the party may have gained by focusing more on the anti-incumbency against the Soren government, particularly over unemployment. There was anger over more than 14 deaths during recent excise constables recruitment exams, for example, but the BJP failed to cash in on that.

A senior BJP leader said: “We should have made jobs a major issue in Jharkhand. Instead, the plank of polarisation took centrestage, and it did not resonate with the tribals.”

Adivasis in Jharkhand form almost 27% of the population, and across several constituencies that The Indian Express visited, jobs counted as their prime concern. Not only did the BJP fail to sense this, but it also could not counter the distrust the tribals had of the party.

“We have been very suspicious of the BJP since 2016-17 when the Raghubar Das government attempted to tweak the tenancy laws in the state. Then the crushing of the Pathalgadi movement. It was the Hemant Soren government that removed the sedition cases against us,” a Pathalgadi accused in Khunti, Sukhram Munda, who has been acquitted in several cases, told The Indian Express.

The fact that the BJP picked Das, a non-tribal, as CM – a first for Jharkhand – also rankles with the community.

Besides, there is the lingering suspicion that the BJP sees tribals as part of a larger Hindu umbrella and would continue its attempts to bring them into the fold. One example of this is the Khunti seat, where the JMM’s Ram Surya Munda won by 42,000-plus votes against five-time BJP MLA Neelkanth Singh Munda. The latter had won even in the aftermath of the Pathalgadi movement.

Another highly placed source in the BJP said the party did not handle Champai well either. “A TV channel owner who arranged a meeting of Champai Soren with Himanta Biswa Sarma (the BJP’s Jharkhand co-in-charge) promised the CM seat to Champai if the BJP won. But later, Champai was not clear about his role… When Himanta finally got Champai into confidence, it was after conceding a ticket to his son, who is also trailing now,” the source said.

Apart from Champai, sources said, the BJP CM hopefuls included Leader of the Opposition Amar Kumar Bauri. “He didn’t even contest as an MLA, and ended up losing.” Bauri, in fact, finished third in his seat Chandankiyari, after the JMM and the new Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM).

Coming to the Soren government’s schemes, its Maiyya Samman Yojna – involving Rs 1,000 each per month to more than 50 lakh women in the state – clearly clicked with women on the ground. The BJP’s promise of Rs 2,100 per marginalised women in the state was countered by the JMM with an assurance to increase the Maiyya Samman Yojna payment from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,500 per woman.

JMM leaders said that other welfare schemes too were a hit, especially across constituencies hit by joblessness.

In other factors, the diversion of Kudmi Mahato votes to the JLKM led by Jairam Mahato, 29, also seems to have damaged the NDA, more than the JMM and Congress. As a result, both AJSU strongholds Gomia and Silli were won by the JMM. AJSU Party chief Sudesh Mahato was among those who lost.

The results also establish Hemant as the undisputed face of the INDIA bloc in the state, with the Congress barely registering during the campaign. If its tally of 16 is the same as 2019, it was largely the result of the JMM shoring it up.

Unlike Hemant and Kalpana’s rally blitz, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi addressed six public meetings each.

Acknowledging “Hemant’s credibility” and “the confidence of the tribals in him”, a senior BJP leader said: “The party’s move to make a tribal the CM in neighbouring Odisha and Chhattisgarh states after recent election voters failed to convince the voters.”

In contrast, the tribal community appreciated that Hemant put the legacy of his father and former chief minister Shibu Soren, who is held in high regard because of his contribution towards the creation of Jharkhand, front and centre in the JMM campaign.

Other community groups in Jharkhand, including Muslims and a section of the over 40% backwards in the state, also appear to have backed the JMM. The INDIA bloc led in all the key regions of the state – Chota Nagpur, Kolhan, Koylanchal, Palamu and Santhal Pargana.

As a BJP leader put it, “Soren managed to get even non-tribals.”

 

With inputs from Liz Mathew, Lalmani Verma, New Delhi