New Delhi: Hemant Soren has emerged as a strong tribal face in the country as the JMM-led INDIA bloc bagged a sweeping majority in Jharkhand. Tribal credentials of BJP leaders, including those of Champai Soren, Lobin Hembrom and Babulal Marandi, failed against Mr Soren's bulwark in the tribal-dominated state as the JMM-led coalition returned to power by winning 56 seats in the 81-member Assembly. PM Narendra Modi congratulated Mr Soren for the Jharkhand win.
“I thank the people of Jharkhand for their support towards us. We will always be at the forefront of raising people’s issues and working for the state. I also congratulate the JMM-led alliance for their performance in the state,” posted Mr Modi on X and tagged Mr Soren.
Unlike last Assembly polls, JMM supremo Shibu Soren did not campaign this time due to health reasons, making Mr Soren the poll mascot for tribals. The BJP-led NDA poll prospects got dented as tribals favoured the JMM, especially after Mr Soren’s arrest in the alleged land grab case.
The JMM’s “outsider” tag for the BJP found support among the tribals despite the BJP leadership, including Mr Modi, listing out the measures taken by the NDA government for the community. Also, the NDA camp lacked a tribal leader of Mr Soren's stature; his wife Kalpana Soren encashed the "sympathy" for the chief minister of the outgoing Assembly at over 100 rallies she addressed in the days leading to the Jharkhand polls.
The poll results showed that the BJP lacks credible tribal leadership despite former CM Champai Soren, known as Kolhan Tiger, joining it. The BJP failed to gain much ground in the Kolhan region. Once a close confidante of the JMM supremo, Champai Soren had joined the BJP in August this year after he had to quit the CM’s post after Mr Soren walked out of jail after getting bail.
Former CM Babaulal Marandi’s tribal credentials also did not help the party. The BJP’s aggressive campaigning against corruption and misgovernance under the JMM-led government fell flat against the tribal pride plank. The JMM also highlighted how the “outsiders”, the BJP leaders”, will try to divide the tribals by creating a separate Santhal Pargana, as promised by the BJP. Santhal Pargana is considered the JMM’s stronghold.
Kalpana Soren has emerged as a prominent tribal face and a credible leader in the INDIA bloc. While the BJP suffered a leadership crisis of tribal leaders, Kalpana Soren has emerged as a credible tribal leader. Many feel that her connection with the tribal population helped the JMM immensely and also helped in gathering the women's support for the party. She kept raising tribal-related issues and highlighted how the BJP had betrayed the community.
With the Central probe agencies probing several cases of illegal mining and if the MR Soren is named in these cases or gets arrested, political observers feel that Kalpana Soren could then lead from the front and also steer the command both in the government as the chief minister and also the political affairs of the JMM.
The Assembly polls verdict in Jharkhand made it clear that the tribals kept their support intact with the JMM while the BJP-led NDA received a blow because of the fledgling party Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM) and also failed to convince the tribals about its poll plank of demographic change and illegal immigrants.
While the JLKM divided the Kudmi (OBC) vote-bank, considered the support base of the BJP and mainly its ally AJSU, the JMM gained the “tribal sympathy” votes over Mr Soren's arrest in an alleged land grab case. All through the campaigning, the JMM accused the BJP of betraying the triable pride by "orchestrating" Mr Soren's arrest. The JMM also played on the tribal sentiment by highlighting that the BJP gave the first non-tribal CM in the state in 2014.
Despite the BJP-led NDA's aggressive campaigning and highlighting the illegal immigrants and threat to “roti, maati, beti” because of it, tribals continued their support for the JMM. The JMM’s Maiyya Samman Yojana for underprivileged women and Abua Awas Yojana also played a major role in the incumbent alliance retaining power. The JMM-led government also waived off the electricity dues of BPL families and is already giving 200 units of free electricity.
“The results were more or less the same for us as they were during the Lok Sabha polls (in Jharkhand)…Tribal sentiments emerged as a major issue…for them (tribals) JMM is their own party… They (the JMM-led alliance) got the tribals, Muslim and missionary votes… The JLKM dented our prospects...it did what the AJSU did during the last polls when it contested separately…the Kudmi vote bank got divided,” said a senior BJP leader.
There are nearly 22 seats with sizable Kudmi voters. The OBC population in Jharkhand is around 55 per cent of the total population and Kudmi is around 15 per cent of the total OBC population. Despite having the highest vote share among the parties in Jharkhand, including the JMM, the BJP-led alliance prospects got dented as the AJSU vote share drastically decreased. While the BJP received 32.67 per cent from 33.37 in the last polls, AJSU received less than four per cent from 8.1 per cent in the last Assembly polls.
