How the JMM lost it

Published here
Dumka, April 21

Solomon David, a Jesuit priest who works among the adivasis of the Santhal Pargana, recounts an incident that happened around 2008. "We were at a meeting in a village," he said, sitting in the office of JOHAR, of which he is Director. "Midway through the meeting, an old man - possibly inebriated - stood up and shouted in Santhali, "Hatao bon, hatao bon! Jharkhand bon hatao!"

"We will take back, we will take back! We will take back Jharkhand!" goes the translation of the cry, which dates back to the Jharkhand movement. Like the the lighthouse keeper who flew the Union Jack long after 1947, Jharkhand's creation in 2000 had passed by that old villager.

That moment signified the failure of a political party that came to embody the demand for Jharkhand. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, which once stood for an ideal, has shrunk to stand firmly in the corner of its leader's family. Tainted, and shorn of ideas and leaders, it now faces an old challenger in its bastion, someone who knows that defeating its leader can effectively end the JMM.

"Let them talk. People will always talk. Who can stop them?" said the 70-year-old Shibu Soren before going back to doodling on his campaign material. That was the only time Guruji - Dishom Guru to the Santhal Pargana - talked during the 10-minute-interview at his Dumka house: mostly because JMM general secretary Binod Pandey, talking on his behalf throughout, was attending a call on his mobile phone and this reporter used the opportunity to ask a direct question.

Soren was referring to the throwing down of the gauntlet in Dumka by fellow Santhal and former chief minister Babulal Marandi, who now heads the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik). Though Marandi himself would not admit to it, his supporters say he wants his party to replace the JMM. It makes sense that both cannot survive a scrap: they are after the same votes in the region, after all - that of the Muslims and the Santhals, the largest tribal group that constitute more than 34 per cent of all adivasis, who themselves constitute 26.2 per cent of the state's population.

This is the fourth time the two men - both outgoing MPs, Soren from Dumka and Marandi from Koderma - will go up against each other. Having won in 1991and 1996, Soren lost to then-BJP member Marandi in 1998. Marandi evened his score against the Soren family in 1999, when he defeated Soren's wife Rupi Kisku. However, JMM will feel inadequate going into this fight. It has lost its tallest leaders in the Santhal Paragana to its fiercest rivals: Stephen Marandi, one of Soren's trusted colleagues who won the Dumka seat six times, back with Marandi after a brief exile; former MP and four-time MLA Hemlal Murmu has joined the BJP and is contesting against the JMM's Rajmahal candidate; minister in the Hemant Soren government Simon Marandi is not campaigning for Soren after his son was denied the Rajmahal ticket.

The common denominator in all this is a man who would be held responsible for whatever happens to the JMM from now on: Hemant Soren. Stephen was replaced to let Hemant contest in 2005; the CM brought in the son of a former Congress MP as the Rajmahal candidate, in one stroke isolating Hemlal as well as Simon. Sikaripara MLA Nalin Soren is probably the only senior leader from the Jharkhand movement days. Another survivor is Borio MLA Lobin Hembram.

"JMM as an idea went to the coffin a long time ago. It is a party of opportunists now," said Sanjay Basu Mallick, forest rights campaigner who has worked with the leaders of the Jharkhand movement. The perception that JMM is a party of the Santhals shattered in Dumka, the party's stronghold. The JMM will struggle to point out district-based adivasi leaders: its district president is a man named Subash Singh, the driving force of the district unit and Soren's poll agent is Vijay Singh. The only adivasi leader of note is Shiba Baskey, constituency representative of Dumka MLA and chief minister Hemant Soren.

"There is now a strong contractor lobby within the JMM. They come from all sections of the society, but have come to be a class of their own. This lobby is the reason why the party cannot lend support to people's movements against displacements in the area," said an individual who has been involved with a major NGO in the region. In a lot of ways, the JMM, which established itself in the region by fighting the exploitative moneylenders, now finds itself working hand-in-hand with a similar group.

Mallick calls it the capture of the party by the tribal middle class. "His sidekicks talk more than Shibu; they have captured the JMM. They need Shibu and Hemant only to pull tribal votes," he said. For the same reason, Mallick also believes the JMM will survive if Soren is not active in politics anymore. "It will be a difficult existence for the party, but this middle class will continue to speak to Hemant," he said, adding that Hemant does not have a, "tribal flavour in him.... JMM has had splits before too, but they survived it because of Shibu's charisma."

This time, the party looks weak across the board. Its best Mahato leaders are dead. In places like Jamshedpur, the Muslims voted strategically to attempt to defeat the BJP. The Majhi (Santhal) vote will also go to Marandi as well as the BJP, which is actively wooing Sanskritised adivasis. The three Ms of the party - often replaced with the "Mukti" in the JMM - are not a guarantee anymore. This votebank-reliance has been the party's failure. "What has the JMM done to create a Jharkhandi identity?.... It has not transcended the diverse groups in the state," said the individual with the NGO. The party, whose troubles incidentally mirror those of the DMK, now faces a problem that the Indian National Congress did post-Independence. "There is no vision. The party has failed to take the [Jharkhand statehood] struggle forward," said the individual.

The party would have you believe that all is well and rumours of its demise are greatly exaggerated. "It all starts here; it ends here. It does not matter if others leave," said general secretary Pandey, touching his leader with his right hand, without explaining what happens when such a reservoir bursts. A party member who is part of both senior and junior Sorens' inner circles agreed that it was a time of transition, with Hemant seeking to remould the JMM in his own image. "It may seem chaotic from the outside, but Hemant is very much in control now. Vijay Hansdak's selection as Rajmahal candidate will later be lauded after the elections," said the leader.

A senior BJP leader who has worked closely with Soren believes he will have to make a comeback: "Hemant will prove to be incapable soon. Guruji wanted to be CM when they pulled down the Munda government last year; he will have to take charge again to energise the party."

The question of JMM with Shibu Soren receding into the background may be an irrelevant one. "Shibu has not been in control for the last 10 years. First, Durga [eldest son, now deceased] ran the party. Now, Hemant," said the NGO member. The fall that began with the creation of Jharkhand continues to haunt the state's greatest leader. That great betrayal - when the BJP chose RSS man Babulal Marandi over Soren - continues to define JMM's politics. "Shibu Soren has given his life for this struggle. As the leader of a movement, he will live on in our hearts. His career as a party leader, as a chief minister, is a different story," said the NGO member.