I feel that I can make all the readers aware of the ground reality of the 2019 Jharkhand elections. Why did BJP lose Jharkhand? Raghubar Das started as a very reform-oriented, hard taskmaster, who wanted to change the face of Jharkhand by attracting a lot of investments.
Following the ‘Gujarat model,’ he started to organise industrial summits to attract investments. He laid the foundation stone of flyovers in the big cities and vowed to improve health, education, electricity, and infrastructure throughout the state.
So far so good. But now, after five years, how do things stand?
- Not even a single big industry player has yet, set up its manufacturing facility in Jharkhand. The trader community was so aggrieved that the Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FJCCI) put up its own candidate in Ranchi seat for the state elections.
- Not a single proper flyover has been constructed in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, and Dhanbad.
- The condition of the electricity supply is very poor. There is not a single day when there is no power cut in Ranchi. Sometimes, even the inverter cannot sustain the power cut duration. The promise of a 24-hour supply of electricity has not been fulfilled.
- Bus transport is almost absent for intra-city transport. Very few buses run on roads. Most people are dependent on Auto Rickshaws or Ola/Uber for transport.
- Education of primary school children remained dismal. There was a long protest from contract school teachers pleading for increase in salary. School education was impacted during that time a lot. Some para-teachers were lathicharged brutally on Jharkhand’s foundation day during protest.
- Water crisis prevailed across the state, especially in areas like Jharia and Dhanbad. Constant leaks in Jamadoba plant’s pipelines caused mayhem to the people of that area. Even after 5 years the project for replacement of pipelines is at survey stage
- The monotonus attitude of the party. Jharkhand is a tribal state and the approach of BJP here should be different because the voters of Jharkhand have different background. The use of hindi language extensively for campaigning was very inappropriate in the regions of Kolhan (singhbhum) and South Chotanagpur region where Hindi speakers are just 18% . BJP won only 5 seats out of 29 seats of this region (3 from ranchi city). Whereas JMM and congress leaders communicated in Tribal languages. Arjun Munda ji , the previous BJP CM knew 7 local languages.
- The segregation of issues of National and local interest . This was the major mistake made by Amit Shah and Modi Ji as they highlighted the issues Ram Mandir , 370 , NRC , CAA , etc which has no role in the lives of local indigenous people. JMM made issues of Jal , jungle, jamin and unemployment of indigenous youth which earned them good votes. Forest rights , mining , land rights are some unique issues of Jharkhand which remained untouched by BJP. Modi ji did rally in 9 constituencies out of which BJP lost 5.
- The tribal factor : Tribals accounts for 28% of total population of Jharkhand, 12% are indigenous Mahtos. Raghubar was the BJP’s experiment in Jharkhand which failed miserably because everybody is not Modi who got fixed at the Patel basiton of Gujarat by his good governance. The amendments in CNT-SPT act was another mistake made by him. The sidelining of Arjun Munda was heavily opposed by the tribals as well as non tribal indigenous communities.
- The arrogance of Raghubar Das put local leaders aside including former CM Arjun Munda and his minister Saryu Rai. This created a dissatisfaction among the cadre. Arjun Munda remained aside for 5 years and then was sent to centre. Saryu Rai was denied ticket as he complained against the mismanagement of Raghubar Government.
- The unpopularity of Raghubar : Raghubar das is highly unpopular among the indigenous communities as well as migrants. His arrogant nature is famous all over Jharkhand. He sidelined many old leaders of Jharkhand and created a class of his loyals in the party. Being a CM he failed to connect with the people and promote the issues of local interest.
- The alliance partner AJSU : Raghubar placed AJSU againt BJP to split the indigenous votes of JMM by placing tribal and muslim candidates. However this strategy backfired BJP and the loyal 12% Mahto vote splitted.
So in a nutshell, BJP needs to have its ear on the ground and groom state leaders who can get things done on ground. Only then will BJP be able to win back states during assembly election.
Congratulations to our new CM sir . Hope Jharkhand progresses under him. But in this situation the BJP supporters and Cadres are highly missing our ex CM shri Arjun Munda ji.
Analysis by – Mohammad Sher Ali (Author)
Twitter – @MdSherAli123