HEMANT SOREN LOOKED every bit the son of the soil in a white kurta-pyjama and red ‘gamcha’ around his neck―a departure from the ‘smart casual’ western attire that he usually sports―as he arrived at the Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha on February 5 to take part in the vote of confidence for the Champai Soren government. The proceedings were necessitated by Hemant’s resignation as chief minister just before his dramatic arrest by the Enforcement Directorate on the night of January 31 in connection with the alleged irregularities in a land purchase in Ranchi.
Still in ED custody, Hemant was at the centre of the discussion on the floor of the house. He made an emotive speech, playing up his tribal identity and dubbing the ED action as political vendetta by the ‘anti-tribal’ BJP. “If they feel that by putting me behind the bars they will succeed in their aim of finishing an adivasi leader or finishing the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, they are mistaken,” he declared. “This is Jharkhand, which has fought for its rights and will not back down.” Champai Soren won the trust vote with 47 MLAs backing him.
Hemant, 48, wanted to project himself as a political martyr, and his speech reflected his concerns about an aggressive BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and the state election. His arrest poses an existential threat to his party, which was founded by his father, Shibu Soren. And the turn of events brings into focus yet again the wobbliness of Jharkhand politics.
Hemant was thrust into the thick of political action when his elder brother Durga Soren died in 2009. Durga, who had a rustic appeal like his father, was senior Soren’s original choice as his political successor. Hemant had an urban image and his partymen were sceptical about his political capability in his initial years. He but came into his own as an opposition leader during the tenure of Raghubar Das, who headed the first full-term government in the state.
Hemant’s vociferous espousal of tribal issues, especially his campaign against the Das regime’s attempts to amend laws to allow leasing of tribal land for non-agricultural purposes, strengthened his credentials. The people’s ire against the BJP installing Das, a non-tribal, as chief minister also helped Hemant come to power in 2019. The JMM has 30 members in the 81-seat assembly and is in an alliance with the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Left.
“The BJP has misused central investigating agencies to target opposition leaders,” said Rajesh Thakur, president, Jharkhand Congress. “It has destabilised governments in many states and it tried the same in Jharkhand. But we will not let them succeed.”
In its 24 years of existence, Jharkhand has had 12 chief ministers. President’s rule has been imposed three times. The first chief minister Babulal Marandi’s term was cut short when he resigned in 2003. Arjun Munda, who succeeded Marandi, had three incomplete terms in 2003, 2005 and 2010. Shibu Soren had three terms―in 2005, 2008 and 2009. It was in Jharkhand that for the first time an independent MLA―Madhu Koda in 2006―became chief minister.
The state’s leaders have also had a history of finding themselves on the wrong side of the law. Hemant is the third chief minister, after his father and Koda, to get arrested. The ED’s claim is that Hemant illegally acquired 12 adjacent land parcels of 8.5 acres in Ranchi. His defence is that the land comes under the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act and hence cannot be transferred. It is also claimed that the land was restored to its original owner on January 29.
“The government has fallen because of serious allegations of corruption against Hemant Soren,” said Rabindra Nath Mahato, leader of opposition in the assembly. “He is an adivasi leader. He is not a leader of adivasis. He should not form a connection between his wrongdoings and the entire adivasi community.”
With Hemant behind the bars, his party faces the threat of disintegration. Many senior leaders have left the JMM over the years, as the party became synonymous with the Soren family and Hemant gained prominence. Shibu Soren, 80, had an emotional connect with the people because of the movement he led for a separate Jharkhand state. That sentiment, however, has waned and he is much less politically active. It is felt that with Hemant in jail, the BJP and the Congress would look to make inroads into the JMM and its electoral turf.
The JMM hopes there will be public sympathy for Hemant, but it will be a challenge to mobilise partymen to capitalise on such sentiment because of the lack of control on the party. Also, the divide in the Soren family could get more pronounced in the changed circumstances. Durga’s wife Sita vehemently opposed Hemant’s plans to name his wife Kalpana as chief minister.
“Our focus is firmly on preparing for the Lok Sabha elections and then the assembly polls,” said JMM leader Vinod Pandey. “These developments will only damage the image of the BJP. The people are angry with the BJP, and the impact of the developments will be felt not only in Jharkhand but in tribal seats in other states, too.”
But the developments are worrying for the ruling alliance. The Lok Sabha polls are round the corner and the assembly elections are due at the end of the year. The JMM is the mainstay of the INDIA alliance in the state, and with the party staring at an uncertain future, the bloc’s electoral plans in the state are in disarray.
Scheduled tribes make around 26 per cent of Jharkhand’s population. The JMM has been seeing an erosion in its tribal support base while the BJP has been expanding its voter base, looking beyond upper castes by tying up with smaller parties like All Jharkhand Students Union. The BJP is expected to project Babulal Marandi, its state president, as its face in the assembly election in an effort to reach out to the tribal population.