The Jharkhand election results mark an important homecoming of the local state issues over national, pan-India hegemonic political agendas. The recent win of Hemant Soren-led JMM-Congress-RJD coalition over BJP in Jharkhand assembly election is seen as the triumph of politics of Jal-Jangal-Jameen by many political pundits.
While the BJP launched an aggressive mega campaign led by Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath and CM Raghubar Das, who were riding on Ram Temple, Article 370 and other national issues, the opposition, on the other hand, stuck to local questions. This, many believe, was the game-changer. The JMM-led alliance registered a comfortable victory with JMM winning 30 seats, Congress with 16 seats and the RJD winning one seat—making the alliance of total 47 seats in the 81-seat Assembly.
The ruling BJP is reduced to just 25 seats—a party which came up with the pre-election slogan of “65 paar”(65+ seats). The mandate against BJP is a reflection of the undercurrent against Raghubar Das, first non-tribal Chief Minister of Jharkhand. Also, after Maharashtra and Haryana, Jharkhand joins the list of states where BJP failed to repeat its earlier electoral performances. Is this also an indication of irrelevance and insignificance of Modi-Shah magic in state politics? After 2014 electoral victory of NDA, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Punjab are states which BJP has already lost to Congress.
The Jharkhand elections took place in a time when the state has witnessed more than 20 cases of mob lynchings during the tenure of Raghubar Das-led government in the past five years. One still can’t forget those disturbing visuals of Tabrez Ansari, a 24-year-old man who was murdered by lynch mob in Jharkhand’s Saraikela-Kharsawan.
The BJP’s star campaigners tried their best, many a time to make it a highly-polarised election by echoing Ram Temple and Abrogation of 370, but all in vain. On the other hand, there was massive dissatisfaction among Tribals as well as Non-Tribals over the policies of Raghubar government, and his attitude. Many believe the amendments in the Chottanagpur Tenancy Act (CNT) and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act (SPT) was the trigger point in 2016, which turned Adivasis against the ruling government.
Unemployment among the youth and failure of the BJP government to conduct state examinations also played a crucial role in drawing ire from young voters. The sitting Chief Minister could not even manage to protect his citadel Jamshedpur East and lost to BJP rebel and former cabinet colleague Saryu Roy, who contested as an independent candidate.
It was an election marked by rampant polarising speeches by BJP campaigners. In one of the rallies, while campaigning for BJP candidate Birendra Mandal in Jharkhand’s Jamatara, Yogi Adityanath had said, “koi Irfan Ansari jitega to mandir toh nahi banayega na. Iske liye to koi Birendra Mandal chaiye na.” (If some Irfan Ansari wins he won’t construct a temple. For a temple, you need Birendra Mandal.) Now that the results are out, Irfan Ansari of INC has defeated Birendra Mandal of BJP by more than 38,000 votes.
The Jharkhand result signals rejection and disillusionment with the political model promoted by BJP, which they sure will introspect in the coming days. The results are out in a time when there is a mass protest going on all across the country over the Citizenship Amendment Act and proposed National Register of Citizens of India.
In the last stage of the election, the CAA controversy also a played significant role in rallying voters against the BJP. This is seen by many among the opposition camps as an unprecedented attack on the Secular-Democratic character of the Indian Republic. Now, after massive protests in different parts of the country, the Union Government has retracted its position on All India NRC.
With Hemant Soren set to become the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, all eyes are on him if he could deliver the promises he made to the people of Jharkhand—a state with rich mineral resources and natural vegetation, but still lagging in all development indices. Will it really turn out to be a comeback of Jal-Jangal-Jameen, we will have to see.