Published here
Sahibganj, April 22
A senior BJP leader who was out campaigning in Dumka's Santhal villages returned to recount what a villager told him when asked his thoughts on the election: "Baba ka tadi mein kangi phas gaye. [The comb is stuck in the old man's beard.]"
Outgoing Dumka MP and former chief minister Shibu Soren finds himself up against the state's first CM Babulal Marandi, MP from Koderma who decided to return to the site of his electoral debut for an endgame and whose symbol is the comb. Marandi's Jharkhand Vikas Morcha's (Prajatantrik) plans for the region go beyond the immediate concern of winning this election: the comb seems to be firmly stuck to the 70-year-old Soren's beard.
The BJP considers itself in the fight for Dumka, but it is the contest between the state's two major Santhal leaders at the heart of Santhal Pargana that holds everyone in thrall. In fact, it is precisely why the BJP thinks it stands a chance: "Billi ka ladayi mein bandar lejayega," as another BJP leader quipped.
Soren, who has contested nine times from Dumka, winning seven, retains the upper hand on paper. Marandi is no novice - he has contested four times from here, losing to Soren twice but winning twice against Guruji's family: one of his wins was against Soren's wife Rupi Kisku. Marandi made his electoral debut against Soren in 1991 and lost by 1.3 lakh votes. Dumka, though crucial, is relatively neutral territory for this battle: Soren, born in Ramgarh district, came to the Santhal Pargana in the late 1960s to lead the fight against exploitative moneylenders; Marandi, from Giridih, was sent by the RSS to establish and strengthen sakhas in the 1980s.
However, as with all epic scraps, history is for the nerds as the slate is wiped clean when the contenders circle each other. Also, circumstances have changed since Marandi's last win here, in 1999 - he left the BJP to form the JVM(P) in 2006. Now, he wants his party to replace the JMM in its stronghold, the Santhal Pargana. The act mirrors that of the BJP in 2000, when it decided not to be gracious enough to make Shibu Soren - the leader of the statehood movement - the state's first CM, instead choosing to install RSS's man Marandi.
At least etymologically, the JVM's Vikas is the next step to the JMM's Mukti, not least because the latter seems to be clueless when it comes to having a vision for the state it gave blood, sweat and tears to create. However, uprooting the JMM - even if it is on the decline - and then replacing it in the Santhal Pargana is easier said than done. Marandi will need three things - an identity, grassroots network and financial backing.
Marandi's - and by extension, the JVM's - identity is at the core of what the party wants to achieve. JVM's quest in the Santhal Pargana is also a search for its first votebank: it cannot bank anymore on the votes brought along by erstwhile BJP leaders who defected. "Babulal Marandi is not a tribal activist; he is a VHP activist," said BJP leader Saryu Rai, who nevertheless agrees that most Santhal votes will go to Marandi in a post-JMM world.
There is a feeling that his Sangh training has shorn Marandi of his Santhali identity. "Babulal is more diku than tribe," said Sanjay Basu Mallick, forest rights campaigner, referring to a term the Santhalis use to refer to the outsider. However, Mallick said that based on his interactions with Marandi, "He believes he is a true Santhal and that if elected from the Santhal Pargana, he will be the Santhal leader of Jharkhand.... At the same time, he remains reliant on the dikus [for financial backing]."
Mallick believes that Marandi's opportunity stems from a "very big tribal crisis," where there are hardly any adivasi leaders on the horizon. It also helps Marandi that unlike most other adivasi leaders of the state, he has no beginnings in the JMM. All this injects a sense of urgency in his attempt to defeat the ageing Soren: with Guruji's retirement from electoral politics a matter of constant speculation, there may not be another chance to defeat the king.
Thanks to Marandi's RSS days and BJP background, the JVM too had mostly "dikus" to begin with. So much so, anti-displacement activists of the region did not trust him completely till last year, suspecting he was a Trojan Horse for diku interests. "He made a significant move by agitating against the Panem Coal Mines in 2012. It did not make much difference to those affected by Panem, but it was symbolically loaded - as opposed to the JMM, which averted its eyes. Babulal is the first politician here to suggest land-for-land for large projects, indicating he has a vision," said an individual associated with an NGO working in the region. An unsaid promise which seems to be drawing educated youth is the implementation of a pro-tribal domicile policy, which ended Marandi's CM tenure in 2003.
Soren's once-trusted colleague Stephen Marandi, who won the seat six consecutive times before being forced out to make way for Hemant Soren's debut in 2005, has now joined Marandi after a brief exile. "Educated tribals are joining us in large numbers. Babulalji wants to nuture young leaders," said Paritosh Soren, Marandi's poll agent this time. Paritosh is one to watch out for: he gave five-time-MLA Nalin Soren a scare in JMM's stronghold Sikaripara in the 2009 assembly polls; losing by 1052 votes.
Marandi himself is not forthcoming about the identity he wants to project. "I want to be the leader of the poor," he said in an interview given in an antetoom of his Dumka campaign office. When prodded, he opened up further. "The tribals are the most poor; 20 to 25 lakhs have been displaced. So, the fight for the poor essentially becomes a fight for tribals," he said. Then, he said something that revealed the scale of his ambitions, "Nobody has dared to make a clear stand on displacement. Make me Prime Minister; I will show you how to compensate with land for land." Behind him, a campaign poster featured a man in a topi: Marandi refuses to discuss his RSS days and talks as if 2006 was a clean break, since when he has made significant efforts to reach out to the Muslims.
All over the Santhal Pargana, there is an eye out for early 2010, when the state will vote to elect members to its assembly. Getting the adivasi group that constitutes more than a third of all adivasis in the state on his side is critical to Babulal Marandi's efforts to becoming the Chief Minister again. He certainly cannot replicate the near-spiritual connection that the Santhals have with Shibu Soren; Marandi needs to find a language to get through to his own people.
Marandi's - and by extension, the JVM's - identity is at the core of what the party wants to achieve. JVM's quest in the Santhal Pargana is also a search for its first votebank: it cannot bank anymore on the votes brought along by erstwhile BJP leaders who defected. "Babulal Marandi is not a tribal activist; he is a VHP activist," said BJP leader Saryu Rai, who nevertheless agrees that most Santhal votes will go to Marandi in a post-JMM world.
There is a feeling that his Sangh training has shorn Marandi of his Santhali identity. "Babulal is more diku than tribe," said Sanjay Basu Mallick, forest rights campaigner, referring to a term the Santhalis use to refer to the outsider. However, Mallick said that based on his interactions with Marandi, "He believes he is a true Santhal and that if elected from the Santhal Pargana, he will be the Santhal leader of Jharkhand.... At the same time, he remains reliant on the dikus [for financial backing]."
Mallick believes that Marandi's opportunity stems from a "very big tribal crisis," where there are hardly any adivasi leaders on the horizon. It also helps Marandi that unlike most other adivasi leaders of the state, he has no beginnings in the JMM. All this injects a sense of urgency in his attempt to defeat the ageing Soren: with Guruji's retirement from electoral politics a matter of constant speculation, there may not be another chance to defeat the king.
Thanks to Marandi's RSS days and BJP background, the JVM too had mostly "dikus" to begin with. So much so, anti-displacement activists of the region did not trust him completely till last year, suspecting he was a Trojan Horse for diku interests. "He made a significant move by agitating against the Panem Coal Mines in 2012. It did not make much difference to those affected by Panem, but it was symbolically loaded - as opposed to the JMM, which averted its eyes. Babulal is the first politician here to suggest land-for-land for large projects, indicating he has a vision," said an individual associated with an NGO working in the region. An unsaid promise which seems to be drawing educated youth is the implementation of a pro-tribal domicile policy, which ended Marandi's CM tenure in 2003.
Soren's once-trusted colleague Stephen Marandi, who won the seat six consecutive times before being forced out to make way for Hemant Soren's debut in 2005, has now joined Marandi after a brief exile. "Educated tribals are joining us in large numbers. Babulalji wants to nuture young leaders," said Paritosh Soren, Marandi's poll agent this time. Paritosh is one to watch out for: he gave five-time-MLA Nalin Soren a scare in JMM's stronghold Sikaripara in the 2009 assembly polls; losing by 1052 votes.
Marandi himself is not forthcoming about the identity he wants to project. "I want to be the leader of the poor," he said in an interview given in an antetoom of his Dumka campaign office. When prodded, he opened up further. "The tribals are the most poor; 20 to 25 lakhs have been displaced. So, the fight for the poor essentially becomes a fight for tribals," he said. Then, he said something that revealed the scale of his ambitions, "Nobody has dared to make a clear stand on displacement. Make me Prime Minister; I will show you how to compensate with land for land." Behind him, a campaign poster featured a man in a topi: Marandi refuses to discuss his RSS days and talks as if 2006 was a clean break, since when he has made significant efforts to reach out to the Muslims.
All over the Santhal Pargana, there is an eye out for early 2010, when the state will vote to elect members to its assembly. Getting the adivasi group that constitutes more than a third of all adivasis in the state on his side is critical to Babulal Marandi's efforts to becoming the Chief Minister again. He certainly cannot replicate the near-spiritual connection that the Santhals have with Shibu Soren; Marandi needs to find a language to get through to his own people.
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