Better off as a Maoist

Published here
Daltonganj, March 29

There once was a Maoist. He killed thieves and separated their heads. He freed his people and returned their lands. He annhilated caste by organising intercaste marriages.

Then he went into politics and was never the same again.

"Yes, he was more effective when part of the Organisation [CPI-Maoist]. Now, he is bound by all these rules; he cannot do what he wishes," chuckled Parameshwar Baitha outside a paan shop at the Pandu market in Jharkhand's Palamu district.

Parameshwar is the younger brother of Palamu's outgoing MP Kameshwar Baitha (59). Kameshwar, who won in 2009 on a JMM ticket, is instantly recognised as the member of the 15th Lok Sabha with most criminal cases to his name. In his latest affidavit, filed as a TMC candidate, Kameshwar has said that the number of cases against him stands at 51, from 2009's 46.

Even his allies by blood agree that Kameshwar, a former CPI-Maoist Central Committee member, faces an uphill battle to retain his seat. "When we go campaigning, people are asking what he has done in the last five years. I tell them that he was in jail till 2011. Since then, he has been fighting his cases," said Parameshwar. Kameshwar was ditched by the JMM, which passed on the SC-reserved seat to the RJD in the seat-sharing agreement. He tried going over to the BJP, which favoured former DGP V.D. Ram - during whose tenures Kameshwar was in jail. Then, the TMC came calling.

"It does not matter which party he contests from. People only see Kameshwar Baitha," said Parameshwar. TMC is Kameshwar's - who tells anyone who would listen that he is the most popular dalit leader of Jharkhand - third political party: he had unsuccessfully contested the 2007 Lok Sabha bypoll on a BSP ticket.

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At Dhachabar village in Pandu block's Dalakala panchayat, Ashok Baitha sat on haunches and rubbed his palm on the dirt road. "Is this the road that should lead to the house of an MP?," he asked. Ashok is a cousin of Kameshwar and still lives in the ancestral village. The MP does not live here anymore; he owns multiple houses but is mostly in his residence in Bishrampur block.

In 2009, the village had spread out to all over the constituency to campaign for its most famous son, who was in jail. Kameshwar's wife Devmani Devi campaigned, and later, became a leader on his behalf along with their three sons. By the time Kameshwar - arrested from Bihar on May 30, 2005 - was released on bail on May 8, 2011, two years of his tenure had passed. On May 11, his former comrades bombed his house in Dhachabar.

This time, the enthusiasm is missing in the village. "No one else could give us dalits what he gave us as a rebel. We were never allowed to let our lungis lie below the knee. The zamindars never let us sit on chairs; in fact, we always had to stand," said Devlal Baitha, husband of panchayat mukhiya Anju Devi. Ashok completed what Devlal left unsaid: "He silenced the zamindars. He held marriages - even encouraged intercaste couples to get married. However, when he became a leader, he helped himself."

There is an argument in saying politics has domesticated Kameshwar. "Once, he caught four thieves. This was in Basdiha. He ordered that they be killed, then separated their heads. When the police found the thieves, their heads were neatly kept together while the rest of their bodies were piled beside," said Ashok.

This story was independently narrated by a senior police officer, who also told the tale of how Kameshwar went over to the dark side - something no one in the village claims to know about. "There was an uppercaste individual who tried to molest one of Kameshwar's sisters. The man's goons assaulted Kameshwar's mother while trying to get to the girl. When Kameshwar heard of this, he went and extracted his revenge," said the officer without clarifying what exactly the revenge was.

The road connecting Dhachabar to Pamdu town was built on Kameshwar's orders - but during those 26 years he spent as a rebel. "We had been involved in a losing litigation with the zamindar about six acres of our land. Kameshwar may have been active in Bihar; but his influence and the Organisation's goodwill meant that the zamindar was forced to return it. I know about two other cases where a total of 24 acres was returned to dalits," said Bindu Ram, who is not rooting for Kameshwar this time.

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In the neighbourhood of Dhachabar where Baitha's kin lives, they believe their hero deserves one more chance. "He came overground after so many years of living in the jungle. Two of these five years, he was in jail. Look at me, even I have not been able to bring about development despite living in my own village. Give him one more chance," said "mukhiyapati" Devlal.

Even youngsters who never saw Kameshwar the rebel think he has done a good job. "Baithaji asked 277 questions in the Lok Sabha. No other Palamu MP has done so much for the constituency," said Sunil Baitha.

"Wait and see. The TMC will form the government in Delhi and Baithaji will become a cabinet minister. He is the messiah of the poor," said a youngster. When asked for his name, he withdrew without a word. It turns out, the man is a relative of the MP as well as a police constable who is Kameshwar's bodyguard.

Its Convenor arrested in 1992 case, TMC says govt witch-hunt

Bokaro, March 22

TMC's state convenor Dilip Chatterjee was on Saturday arrested in Dhanbad and remanded to judicial custody in a 22-year-old case, with his party accusing the JMM government of a political witch-hunt.

Chatterjee was sent to 14-days' judicial custody for a 1992 attack on the convoy of then-Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad. Nine policemen were injured in the attack, carried out with bows and arrows, election symbol of the JMM. A Dhanbad court had issued an arrest warrant against him on Thursday.

"The Hemant Soren government is scared. It is trying to protect the murderer Jagarnath Mahto, but is sending people to jail in old cases," said TMC leader Chandra Shekhar "Dadai" Dubey, referring to JMM's Giridih candidate, named in a murder FIR.

Ironically, the case is from a period when Chatterjee was a member of the JMM. He rose to occupy the position of general secretary before leaving over differences with the coterie around Shibu Soren.

Since taking over the TMC's activities in the state, he has overseen exponential growth, often at the cost of the JMM. The party has two legislators now - Dadai Dubey, who switched over from the Congress, has since resigned his state Assembly membership.

Jamshedpur becomes proxy battle between Hemant, Munda

Ranchi, March 19

On Wednesday evening, the fight for Jamshedpur Lok Sabha seat became linked to the future of the state government as a JMM MLA is set to join the BJP in Delhi.

Vidyut Baran Mahto will be the fifth legislator from the ruling JMM-Congress-RJD-Others coalition to join a party that is not part of the UPA. Three legislators, including one from the Congress, have left to join the TMC; two from the JMM have gone over to the BJP.

First-time MLA Mahto, JMM representative from Bahragodda, has been brought in by Arjun Munda and will likely contest from Jamshedpur. Former chief minister Munda, who represented Jamshedpur in the 15th Lok Sabha before resigning to become CM for a third time, has declined to contest despite appeals from state as well as Delhi-based BJP leaders.

Munda has not stated his reasons for not contesting. However, even BJP leaders admit that he is driven by the desire to bring down the Hemant Soren government and later - maybe after the assembly elections scheduled for early 2015 - be CM himself. Hemant had come to power by pulling the plug on a BJP-JMM alliance that was being led by Munda.

"Yes, Mahto has come over to the BJP. Whether he will be given a seat or not will be decided by the party. I am not interested in contesting; I have informed the party about it. The Hemant Soren government has lost the required numbers with this," claimed Munda, talking on the phone from Delhi. Babulal Marandi met the Governor on Wednesday, pointing out that the government do not have the numbers anymore.

A number of BJP leaders - Saryu Rai and Raghubar Das among them - opposed the induction of Mahto, but by Wednesday evening, they seemed to have fallen in line with Raghubar Das stating that he would obey whatever the central leadership wants. "I wanted Munda himself to contest from here. If he did not want to, we have enough people in our ranks to take over. It was not wise to borrow someone from another party. However, it looks like the seat will go to Mahto now," said Rai.

The Hemant government had passed a floor test on a 43-37 score, with one MLA absent and the Speaker - a BJP man - not casting his vote. Since, the JMM's Shashank Shekhar Bhokta has taken over as Speaker.

Choosing a candidate for the Jamshedpur seat itself has been a difficult task for most parties - the JMM declared a candidate only on Wednesday, when the election notification for the constituency was issued. After Savita Mahato, widow of former deputy CM Sudhir Mahato, refused JMM's offer of a ticket, the party chose Niroop Mohanty, a former Tata Steel Vice President. The AJSU Party as well as the TMC are yet to declare candidates and are waiting for disgruntled leaders to join them.

One reason for the apprehensiveness of the BJP and JMM has been the good performance of JVM(P)'s Ajoy Kumar, the incumbent MP who has been re-nominated by his party. "Ajoy Kumar has a honest image. He has kept in touch with the electorate. Mahto, on the other hand, has been linked to both the 2010 as well as 2012 Rajya Sabha polls horse trading cases. We are hoping that he will benefit from the Modi wave," said a senior BJP leader on the condition of anonymity.

Ajoy Kumar, on the other hand, alleged that Arjun Munda was targeting his party. "He is eyeing the elections to the assembly. Arjun Munda fears that the JVM will take up the space which will be vacated by the JMM, which is imploding. He is not looking for a win from Jamshedpur; he merely wants to bring someone over from the JMM and topple the government," he said.

Dubey goes to TMC; Congress makes Sahay wait

Ranchi, March 9

Former minister in the Hemant Soren cabinet and Congress legislator from Vishrampur Chandra Shekhar "Dadai" Dubey joined the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata on Sunday after being denied the Dhanbad seat.

Dubey's name did not figure in the list of six candidates released by the Congress on Saturday and he promptly went over to the TMC, which offered him the Dhanbad ticket.

It was another coup for the TMC, which has been going about acquiring disgruntled leaders all over the state. Dubey is the party's third legislator; TMC is yet to have even a state unit. However, sources close to him said he would soon resign as a legislator as the anti-defection law would apply.

There were more surprises from the Congress when it came to distribution of candidatures - the decision on the Ranchi seat has been delayed while the Pradesh Congress President would not contest. The INC, scheduled to contest from eight constituencies, announced only six seats in its first list.

Subodh Kant Sahay, the Ranchi legislator and lone MP of the party from Jharkhand, did not find a place in the list on Saturday. "We are all quite surprised that the party was not decisive and seems to be hesitating on declaring his candidature," said a senior leader who did not want to be quoted. There is a perception that Sahay, a former Union minister, did not perform well this tenure but most party leaders assumed that he would be retained. Regional news channels reported that an individual from outside the state could be the party's nominee this time. A delegation of Sahay's supporters returned from Delhi on Sunday after lobbying for their leader.

Also missing from the Congress list was PCC president Sukhdeo Bhagat, widely tipped to be the party's candidate from Lohardaga. "The highcommand has decided that the party presidents of Jharkhand and Bihar should concentrate on campaigning," said Shailendra Sinha, PCC spokesperson. Lohardaga has been entrusted with Rameshwar Oraon, Chairperson of the National Commission of Scheduled Tribes, who won from the constituency in 2004 but lost in 2009.

Meanwhile, Savita Mahato, widow of former deputy CM Sudhir Mahato has excused herself from being the JMM's Jamshedpur candidate. She cited personal reasons. Recently-widowed, Mahato was initally the JMM nominee for the Rajya Sabha elections this year before the party withdrew her candidature.

TMC wants Jharkhand

Ranchi, March 7
This was published here: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/in-jharkhand-trinamool-pushes-for-space-dents-jmm/99/

In its quest to emerge as the largest regional party in the 16th Lok Sabha, the All India Trinamool Congress is making an aggressive push into Jharkhand.

Even before the formation of its state unit, the party has managed to capture its first legislators here, convincing two single-MLA-parties to merge with it. This, on top of getting Shibu Soren's younger brother and JMM's Bokaro district president Lalu Soren on board.

After Bandhu Tirkey and Chamra Linda - since declared the party's candidates for Ranchi and Lohardaga respectively - it is as if the floodgates opened. The name of almost every leader likely to be ignored by their respective parties in ticket distribution have been associated with the TMC - Chandra Shekhar "Dadai" Dubey and Stephen Marandi of the Congress, and Paulus Surin of the JMM among them.

Some of these individuals are likely to stay with their parties, but the TMC does not deny it has been talking them. So much so, political parties across the state are waiting with pregnant indignation for the second candidates' list of the TMC, expected on Sunday.

All this, from a party that was widely derided for a poorly-attended rally in Ranchi on January 11. The party's Rajya Sabha MP K.D. Singh, who has since resigned from his Jharkhand seat, was the main organiser. That day also marked his first official event in Jharkhand since being elected in 2010. Singh, chairman emeritus of the Chandigarh-based Alchemist group, won as a JMM candidate under controversial circumstances before going over to the TMC in a matter of months.

The TMC appointed a state convenor in Dilip Chatterjee on February 18. "The Ranchi rally was not very important. What mattered was a February 8 rally in Dhanbad, which was well attended," said Chatterjee. He also handles the Ranchi district office; TMC now has functioning units in Jamshedpur, Dhanbad and Bokaro districts. "We want to contest all 14 Lok Sabha seats and have finalised names for 5-6 of them. For the state assembly [elections, scheduled for 2015] too, we will have candidates for all seats," added Chatterjee.

Before TMC, Chatterjee was a general secretary of the JMM. "I left when JMM started losing its way. Shibu Soren was increasingly silenced inside the party," was all he was willing to say. A former central committee member of the JMM said that Chatterjee's presence could draw JMM members to the TMC.

The TMC then, could be the first beneficiary of an anti-Hemant Soren feeling that has been building up within the JMM. Older leaders have felt alienated since Hemant's rise began, surrounded by a coterie called the class of 2005 in these pages. These were people who associated themselves with the JMM the year Shibu Soren first became chief minister; the same year when Hemant first contested to the state assembly, and lost.

Apart from the big names, there are early indications that grassroots leaders could move to the JMM. Not merely Bengali-speaking individuals, but also adivasi leaders are moving toward to TMC. "Only this morning did I get a call from an important functionary in the Ramgarh district unit of the JMM, asking for a TMC leader's number," said an individual who handles media relations for a potential Lok Sabha candidate who belongs neither to the JMM nor TMC. Shibu Soren's elder brother Rajaram Soren too, has indicated that he would not mind a move to the TMC.

The JMM comes in the TMC's firing line as the former's stronghold, the Santhal Pargana region, is contiguous with West Bengal. It made its first prominent recruitment in the state there five years back, inducting anti-displacement activist and party's state women's unit convenor Muni Hansda from Dumka. She could be the TMC's candidate from the namesake constituency - currently held by Shibu Soren - but reportedly faces competition from Lalu Soren.

The TMC's strong bid could have an effect in Assam, where the party is trying to gain influence among the tea tribes - originally of Jharkhand, among whom the JMM has supporters.

This scattergun approach to collecting individuals has however resulted in an explosive mix: there is Muni Hansda, who has been a crusader against the mining companies in Dumka and Pakur; Lalu Soren, whose most important quality is that he is Shibu's brother; Bandhu Tirkey, a minister in the Madhu Koda cabinet who faces charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Chamra Linda, legally declared an absconder from 2008 to 2013 in an assault case. As if this was not enough, there are reports in the regional media that Geeta Koda, legislator and wife of the former CM, could join the TMC.

The TMC in Jharkhand is hardly an advertisement the party's brand ambassador Anna Hazare would want to be featured in. On the other hand, it is an indicator of the scale of Mamata Banerjee's ambitions.