The BJP used several measures to reach out to tribals from bringing back its estranged tribal leader Babulal Marandi and appointed him as the state chief, declaring tribal icon leader Birsa Munda birth anniversary as ‘Tribal Pride Day’, among others. But the BJP failed to win any of the reserved tribal seats. Out of five reserved seats, in four seats the defeat was over 1.2 lakh. The BJP is on introspection mode.
On Thursday, senior BJP leaders gathered at Kav's restaurant in Harmu, discussing the reasons behind the debacle. Sources said that the results also portend tough going for the BJP in the Assembly elections due at the end of the year. The five tribal Lok Sabha seats translate into 28 ST-reserved Assembly constituencies.
A BJP leader requesting anonymity said, “The main reason behind BJP debacle in tribal areas is that none of the BJP tribal leaders matches the charisma and popularity of tribal leaders of JMM especially JMM patriarch Shibu Soren and former chief minister Hemant Soren.”
The leader further said, “In 2020, BJP brought estranged tribal leader Babulal Marandi by first projecting him as Leader of Opposition (LoP), but when the speaker court refuse to grant LoP status to Marandi he was made the State Chief. Marandi's popularity in the tribal Santhal region raises questions as BJP lost both the Santhal LS seats which are reserved for ST. BJP trailed in most of the assembly seats in Dumka and Sahebganj.”
The leader further said, “Not only Marandi has failed to make a foothold in tribal seats, he has also failed in his home Lok Sabha constituency. Marandi's home district is Giridih, but the BJP has lost two assembly bye-election Dumri and Gandey.”
Apart from Marandi, another tribal leader who too has failed is Union Tribal affairs minister Arjun Munda. Union Tribal Affairs and Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda lost the Khunti Lok Sabha seat to Congress's Kalicharan Munda by 1.49 lakh votes, officials said. Arjun Munda, a three-time chief minister, had defeated Kalicharan Munda by 1,445 votes in 2019.
The failure of these two biggest tribal leaders has once again raised question on leadership issue in State.
The beginning of 2024 witnessed seismic shifts in Jharkhand’s political landscape with the arrest of Hemant Soren, son of JMM patriarch Shibu Soren, on January 31. This led to Champai Soren, a long-time associate of Shibu Soren, stepping in as stopgap chief minister in February. At 67, Champai Soren lacked the charisma to challenge the formidable BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, but the emergence of Hemant’s wife Kalpana Soren invigorated JMM workers and added a new dimension to the political narrative.
The biggest reason for tribal disenchantment with the BJP is believed to be the jailing of JMM chief and INDIA bloc leader Hemant Soren, in the run-up to the elections, in an alleged land-grabbing case. Soren stepped down as Chief Minister before his arrest, naming Champai Soren in his place. Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana won in the bypolls held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections, making her electoral debut. Kalpana, who campaigned across Jharkhand, also invoked the “injustice” meted out to her husband, an “Adivasi CM”.
