How did Hemant-Kalpana destroy the army of Modi-Shah?
#News Bureau November 25,2024
In the Jharkhand assembly elections, Hemant Soren has been successful in saving power along with creating a new history. India Block led by Hemant Soren has won 56 seats. The majority figure in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly is 41. Hemant Soren won the election from Barhet seat for the third consecutive time. His wife and India Block’s star campaigner Kalpana Soren has also won the election from Gandey seat. After this victory, many posters have been put up in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi – “Sher Dil Soren is back again.” It can be asked how the pair of Hemant Soren and Kalpana Soren defeated Modi-Shah and their entire army in the Jharkhand elections. Leaving behind the 2019 record, JMM has emerged as the largest party in the state with a win on 34 seats alone. On the other hand, BJP, which left no stone unturned to return to power, has suffered a crushing defeat. JMM has won 34 seats, Congress 16, RJD four and CPI-ML two seats.
BJP, which contested on 68 seats, has won only 21 seats. BJP’s state president and former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi has been successful in winning the election. While the Leader of Opposition (Leader of BJP Legislative Party) in the Assembly, Amar Kumar Bauri, has been defeated by JMM’s Umakant Rajak on the Chandankiyari seat. Sita Soren, who faced defeat from Dumka in the Lok Sabha elections, has lost from Jamtara in the assembly elections. While she had won the election from Jama thrice while being in JMM. Politically, leaving JMM has cost her dearly.
JDU, an ally of BJP, has won one of the two seats in Jamshedpur West, where high profile face Saryu Rai has defeated Congress candidate and minister in Hemant Soren government Banna Gupta. BJP had left one seat for another ally LJP. LJP candidate Janardan Paswan has won this seat in Chatra. BJP’s ally AJSU Party has faced a crushing defeat in this election. Out of 10 seats, AJSU Party has won only one seat- Mandu by a small margin of votes. Party chief and former deputy chief minister Sudesh Kumar Mahto has also lost the election from Silli seat.
In this tussle between India Block and NDA, Jairam Kumar Mahto alias Tiger Jairam of Jharkhand Loktantrik Kranti Morcha, which has emerged as a new outfit in Jharkhand politics, has won the Dumri seat. In Dumri, Jairam defeated JMM candidate and minister in the government Baby Devi.
JLKM, which contested on 71 seats, has completely destroyed the equation of NDA, especially AJSU, on at least a dozen seats. Statistics show that a large part of Kurmi voters seems to be moving towards JLKM.
What did Hemant Soren and Kalpana Soren say
Hemant Soren has given the credit of this massive victory to the people of the state. He said, “The people of the state have trusted the government. They have trusted our words and work. They will strengthen that trust further. Along with this, he has requested the people coming to give good wishes to gift books instead of bouquets or flowers.” Kalpana Soren has described this victory as the power of the people. Along with this, it has been described as a proof of faith in the government. He has also said that this result has given us strength to build a new Jharkhand, we will include Jharkhand among the leading states of the country.
JMM’s vote share increased and so did the seat
In the 2019 elections, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha won 30 seats with 18.73 vote share. This time JMM has won 34 seats with 23.44 percent votes. In 2019 itself, Congress won 16 seats with 13.87 percent vote share. This time Congress won 16 seats with 15.56 percent vote share. RJD has been successful in regaining lost ground in Jharkhand by winning four seats. RJD’s vote share is also 3.44 percent. CPI-ML has won two seats. CPI-ML lost the seat of Bagodar, but it snatched the seats of Sindri and Nirsa from BJP.
Here, BJP has won 21 seats with 33.16 percent vote share. In the 2019 elections, BJP’s vote share was 33.37 percent and it won 25 seats. AJSU won two seats in the 2019 elections with 8.10 percent vote share. This time AJSU’s vote share is 3.54 percent and it has won only one seat.
Hemant is an accepted and established leader among tribals
Out of 28 seats reserved for tribals in Jharkhand, BJP has won only one seat in Saraikela. In 2019, BJP won two seats – Khunti and Torpa. This time JMM has hoisted the flag of victory in Khunti and Torpa. However, in Santhal Pargana, JMM has maintained its dominance in the seats of Maheshpur, Shikaripara, Borio, Littipara, Dumka, Jama. In Maheshpur, the party’s strong leader Stephen Marandi defeated the BJP candidate by 61,175 votes. Hemant Soren won by a margin of 39,792 votes.
On the other hand, JMM has again proved its strength in Ghatsila, Potka, Majhgaon, Chaibasa, Manoharpur seats reserved for tribals in Kolhan. JMM has also retained its hold on Gumla, Vishnupur seats reserved for tribals in Chhotanagpur. On the other hand, Congress has retained its victory in Lohardaga, Khijri, Kolebira, Simdega, Mandar, Jagannathpur, Manika reserved for tribals.
These results show that Hemant Soren’s coming to power in 2019 has had a major impact on tribal politics. After this, tribals have continuously shown trust in Hemant.
2019 assembly elections, 2024 Lok Sabha elections and now tribals have shown that Hemant Soren is their unanimously accepted leader from Santhal Pargana to Kolhan and Chhotanagpur.
The pitch of infiltrators, demography change in Santhal Pargana flopped
Just after the results of the Lok Sabha elections, BJP had appointed Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan as in-charge for the assembly elections and Himanta Biswa Sarma as co-in-charge. Both these leaders had camped in Jharkhand for four months.
BJP had raised the issue of infiltrators and demography change in Santhal Pargana throughout the elections by linking it to the identity of the tribals. However, Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Yogi Adityanath also made sharp attacks on the ruling parties in many election rallies accusing them of appeasement politics. But the results show that both tribals and Muslims considered it an unnecessary question. For example, in Santhal Pargana, Congress candidate Nishat Alam defeated the AJSU Party candidate by about 70 thousand votes in Pakur seat and JMM’s MT Raja defeated the BJP candidate by 43 thousand votes in Rajmahal. Hemant Soren and others have been constantly alerting the tribals on the issue of infiltrators and have been accusing the BJP of spreading hatred in the society to gain power in Jharkhand. They are trying to make people fight each other.
BJP could not reap the harvest of dynastic politics
BJP could not reap the harvest of dynastic politics in this election. Former Chief Minister Arjun Munda’s wife Meera Munda lost the election from Potka seat of Kolhan. Earlier in the Lok Sabha elections, Arjun Munda lost from Khunti seat. Champai Soren’s son Babulal Soren also lost the election from Ghatsila.
On the other hand, former Chief Minister Madhu Koda’s wife Geeta Koda lost the Jagannathpur seat. The result of this election has made it clear that JMM has demolished Koda’s fort in Singhbhum. Madhu Koda and Geeta Koda have won the election from Jagannathpur seat twice each.
This time Geeta Koda left Congress and joined BJP just before the Lok Sabha elections. BJP fielded her from Singhbhum seat, but she had to face defeat from JMM.
Hemant and Kalpana raised Jharkhand issues
In the assembly elections, Hemant Soren and Kalpana Soren, the biggest leaders of India Block, put a lot of emphasis on the important issues of Jharkhand. The state government’s dues of Rs 1.36 lakh crore on coal companies and the protection of water, forest and land were included in the election issues by both the leaders. And they were seen making all efforts to corner the BJP and the central government on this issue. Both the JMM leaders kept saying that this money is Jharkhand’s right and privilege.
India Block has guaranteed in its manifesto to implement Sarna Code for tribals and increase reservation for Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes and implement the Khatian based local policy of 1932. It is worth noting that these three issues have been at the center of politics along with being sensitive. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha had also included these issues in its promises in the last elections. Hemant Soren once again expressed his commitment to stick to these issues and now he can clearly see the benefits of it in the results.
