DAS IN A JAM
A string of byelection defeats and a united opposition have the CM worried
The opposition Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM) twin victories in byelections at Gomia and Silli on May 31 have served up another shocker to the Raghubar Das government. The past two-and-a-half years have seen Jharkhand’s BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government lose five of the six bypolls held in the state.
The string of defeats has raised questions on the ruling coalition’s prospects in next year’s state assembly polls as well as the Lok Sabha elections, which are expected to be held simultaneously next year. Contrary to the rough ride it has now
become, Das, who took charge as Jharkhand’s 10th chief minister in December 2014, had an unusually smooth beginning. Starting out with a simple majority in the 82-member assembly, he enjoyed an independence that none of his nine predecessors did. In fact, all the others, heading minority regimes, remained hostage to the whims and demands of independent legislators. Not one could complete his tenure.
For the BJP, picking Das was a bold move. He was the first nontribal CM in a state where 26.2 per cent of the population and 28 out of 82 assemblies had tribal representatives. But his inability to win over the tribal population coupled with the recent consolidation of opposition parties, is now posing a serious challenge. The alienation began with the introduction of a new domicile policy in April 2016, which granted local resident status to anyone living in Jharkhand for 30 years. The tribals saw this as a bid to undermine them, and the opposition used it to stoke sentiments, leading to a subtle tribal versus non-tribal divide.
Das’s subsequent attempts to amend the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act—laws protecting tribal lands—only led to further aggravation and mistrust. The chief minister’s argument that the amendments (since stalled) would actually enable tribal owners to gain commercially, failed to cut any ice.
The BJP-led government’s recent move to try and push through the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation & Resettlement (Jharkhand Amendment) Bill, 2017, hasn’t helped bridge the gap either. The proposed legislation does away with social impact assessments in instances where land is to be acquired for “public purpose”. It also does away with the requirement of the consent of 70 per cent of the landowners. Consent of gram sabhas would only be mandatory in scheduled areas.
A senior tribal BJP leader says that Das’s intentions are genuinely about bringing economic prosperity to Jharkhand, but he concedes the government has failed to involve tribal leaders in its decision-making.
Amid the growing tribal disillusionment, opposition parties have come together in a united front against the ruling BJP. It’s helped that although the state government has done well in controlling the Maoists and rolling out numerous schemes for women and the poor, the welfare measures haven’t made significant impact on the ground.
Das’s major challenge now is the coming together of erstwhile rivals like the Babulal Marandi-led Jharkhand Vikas Morcha and the JMM. The Congress, too, has stitched deals with the JMM for the assembly and parliament polls in 2019.
The opposition has evidently drawn lessons from this April’s civic polls, where the BJP won a majority with just 30 per cent votes. The divided opposition lost despite collectively polling 60 per cent of the votes. A month later, the JMM, supported by all opposition parties, comfortably won the Gomia and Silli bypolls. What Raghubar Das desperately needs now is a ‘Plan B’.
A SENIOR TRIBAL BJP LEADER SAYS DAS’S FAILURE IS NOT INVOLVING THE COMMUNITY WHILE MAKING DECISIONS