The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), after losing all five reserved seats in Jharkhand — Khunti, Singhbhum, Lohardaga, Rajmahal, and Dumka — in the Lok Sabha polls, is in action mode to recover lost ground in the upcoming assembly elections.
Apart from Dumka, in all the other seats, the BJP’s margin of loss was more than a lakh votes, forcing the party to re-strategise immediately after June 4. The BJP soon realised that the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s action against Hemant Soren was used by the JMM politically, with the perceived injustice against the chief minister being seen as an injustice to tribals. Now, in the upcoming assembly election, the BJP has shortlisted 10 reserved seats where it hopes to win. The party has not just thrown its organisational might behind winning the polls but also appealed to tribal sentiments.
HUL DAY CELEBRATION
The first glimpse of BJP’s Mission Tribals in Jharkhand was the unusual grand celebration of Hul Divas this year which fell on June 30 — the same month the election results were announced. The day honours the sacrifice of tribal leaders Sidhu-Kanhu, Chand-Bhairav, and Phoolo-Jhano, and their contributions to India’s Independence movement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose the day to resume his monthly radio broadcast ‘Mann Ki Baat’ after taking a break during the Lok Sabha elections and spoke about the importance of the date for India. “This day is associated with the courage of Veer Sidhu and Kanhu, who strongly opposed the atrocities of foreign rulers,” he said.
Even as Hemant Soren used the day to come down heavily on the BJP, suggesting they are ‘feudal forces’, the latter wasn’t distracted. The state leadership across Jharkhand commemorated the day by garlanding busts of Sidhu and Kanhu. BJP also shifted the celebration to places like Mirudih or Chandil instead of capital Ranchi to send out a message.
BANGLADESHIS VS TRIBALS
The BJP has been consistently raising the issue of demographic shift in the reserved seats with an increase of outsiders, hinting towards Bangladeshi nationals. This is not the first time the BJP has taken up the issue.
In 2023, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) hinted the Santhal Pargana was facing law and order issues due to Bangladeshi infiltrators. The issue was primarily raised by NCST member Asha Lakhra, who is also a BJP leader. Last year, she visited Dumka to meet victims of violence allegedly perpetrated by a minority community in the Pakur district.
With a blow in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP’s campaign has got a new lease of life. A recent high court order asking the Soren government to push back Bangladeshi infiltrators has worked as a shot in the arm for the party. This July, former chief minister and Jharkhand BJP chief Babulal Marandi wrote to Soren on the declining population of tribal communities in the Santhal Pargana region.
The statistics he raised in the letter were soon discussed on the floor of Parliament by BJP MP from Godda, Nishikant Dubey. Citing ‘demographic change’ in tribal areas of Jharkhand, he demanded a separate Union Territory by carving out a few districts of Jharkhand and West Bengal. Dubey said, “The state I come from, when Santhal Pargana separated from Bihar and became a part of Jharkhand, tribals formed 36 per cent of the population in Santhal Pargana in 2000. Today, their population is 26 per cent. Where did 10 per cent of the tribals vanish? This House never worries about them; it indulges in vote-bank politics.”
With the ongoing political crisis in Bangladesh, where minorities are facing persecution, the BJP hopes its narrative will find resonance.
TRIBAL DAY, ‘LAND JIHAD’
This August 9, on the occasion of World Tribals Day, the BJP again tried to reach out to the community. The day aims to promote and protect the rights of indigenous peoples, whose cultures have faced threats of erosion and assimilation in the face of marginalisation.
But, unlike Hul, the BJP went for outreach in smaller groups in the tribal areas and tried to be a part of the tribal celebration rather than holding a party celebration.
PM Modi also chose the day to meet BJP’s SC and ST MPs to discuss the reservation issue which may have perturbed some in the community in the aftermath of the apex court’s observation about creamy layer. The MPs jointly submitted a memorandum on the top court’s observation, demanding that the decision not be implemented.
After the meeting, PM Modi chaired a cabinet meeting where he categorically asserted that the principle of creamy layer does not apply to reservations for Scheduled Castes.
Just days ago, Home Minister Amit Shah was in Ranchi for Jharkhand BJP’s executive committee meeting where he reached out to tribals as well, promising to restore land and quota to tribals in the state. In the meeting, he also pointed out that if anyone gave the state its first tribal chief minister, it was the BJP that picked Marandi. Without naming Hemant Soren, he accused him of being involved in ‘Land Jihad’ due to his “vote bank and appeasement policy”, which Shah claimed was causing demographic changes.
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