BJP counts on a Soren to woo tribal votes in Jharkhand Assembly polls

As Champai Soren's switching sides gives BJP leaders renewed hope ahead of Assembly polls, ruling party claims it will only consolidate Hemant's tribal support base, reports Aditi Phadnis

Come September 10, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and newly inducted Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Jharkhand chief minister (CM) Champai Soren will address a rally in the Kolhan region to kick off the party’s campaign for the state Assembly elections.
 

Jharkhand, where elections are due by the end of the year, is seeing intensified political exercises, particularly in the tribal-dominated Kolhan region that comprises East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum, and Saraikela-Kharsawan covering 14 Assembly seats.
 

In the 2019 Assembly elections, the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) won 11 seats, while the other three were bagged by the Congress (two) and independent, Saryu Rai. The BJP had drawn a blank. In the recent Lok Sabha elections as well, the BJP lost all the seats reserved for tribals.
 

Now with Champai, a grand old man of the region, joining their ranks, BJP leaders are optimistic about forming a government in the state. “Getting Champai dada to the BJP is a big, big coup,” exulted Pratul Shah Deo, state spokesman for the BJP on the phone from Jamshedpur. “It shows the arrogance and high-handedness of the current JMM leadership,” Deo said.
 

Champai was named the CM earlier this year when JMM chief and founder Shibu Soren’s son Hemant stepped down just before his arrest in a money-laundering case. When he was released on bail, Hemant returned to reclaim the post that Champai had to vacate. Although Champai got a bunch of new portfolios, including water resources (which he accepted), he felt an injustice had been done to him.
 

“If Hemant had spoken to him politely, and not insulted him as if he was just a ‘temporary’ CM, Champai dada might not have reacted in this manner. He would have taken it if the diktat had come from Guruji (Shibu Soren). We are much younger; we have no standing before him. Hemant should not have done this,” Shah Deo said.
 

However, Hemant’s supporters contest this vigorously. “In the 2019 Assembly elections, it was Hemant who got the mandate to run the state’s affairs. What should have happened is when Hemant was granted bail, Champai should have publicly announced that he is handing back the responsibility,” said a source in the CM’s office.
 

Champai told local media that he felt humiliated because a meeting of legislators to replace him and elect Hemant was convened bypassing him. He was asked not to appear in any public programme. He told supporters he was prevented from handing over the appointment letters to teachers, something he had announced as the CM.
 

In 1991, nine years before Jharkhand was carved out from Bihar as a separate state, Champai became an independent legislator winning a by-election from the Saraikela seat. He joined the JMM enthused by Shibu Soren and Raghunath Murmu, the man known to have created the Santhali script Olchiki. The two taught Champai what it is to be a tribal – to take pride in tribal legacies and traditions.
 

On July 21, Guru Purnima, Champai called on Shibu Soren, but the meeting yielded no results. “With your ill health keeping you away from active politics, there was no platform within the party to voice my concerns,” he said in his resignation letter. “Under your guidance, during the Jharkhand movement and even after that, I have had the opportunity to learn a lot in life. You will always remain my guide,” he said.
 

The man whom JMM activists remember as being Shibu Soren’s shadow had left the party he had helped set up. He was the only Soren CM the state has known who was not from the family.
 

He is currently serving his seventh term as Saraikela MLA. According to sources in the BJP, he had put forth a condition that his son would get a party ticket in the Assembly elections. “The understanding is that in a few years, he will be given a governorship,” said a top state leader.
 

In other words, no existing boats in the BJP are going to be rocked by his entry. This is important because BJP has five former chief ministers in its ranks.
 

Among the BJP’s top tribal leaders, Babulal Marandi has welcomed Champai’s entry into the party. “Vote politics over tribals is not acceptable. A tribal was removed from the post of CM for the greed of power. Respected Champai ji joining the BJP will prove auspicious, and is a big step towards uniting tribals in the whole country on the basis of policy and principle,” former BJP CM and tribal leader Arjun Munda said in a post on X.
 

Champai’s first action, even before joining the BJP, was to express concern about tribal girls being married to ‘infiltrators from Bangladesh’.
 

Is a fracture in the top JMM leadership going to strengthen the party and its resolve to beat back the BJP from tribal areas? Or weaken it?
 

Gladson Dungdung, Adivasi activist who has written 27 books on the issue of tribal identity in Jharkhand, believes Champai Soren’s exit might consolidate Hemant’s support base. He told Business Standard on the phone from Ranchi: “In 2019, the BJP won only two of 28 seats reserved for tribals and there was a reason for this: the perception in tribal communities that tribal land was under threat from BJP governments.”
 

Dungdung added: “A series of steps taken by BJP governments, but specifically, adding of tribal land into land banks created by states, makes tribal fearful of their livelihood and identity. And for a tribal, the police are not always a friend, and usually an enemy. They see Hemant as a victim.”
 

As the BJP ramps up its efforts with Champai’s induction, the JMM is expected to respond in the run-up to the elections. With the political landscape in Jharkhand becoming increasingly charged, both parties are preparing for a fierce contest in the upcoming polls.
 

This much is clear. With barely weeks to go for the polls, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to consolidate its position. The JMM is expected to fire a salvo soon.