New Delhi: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) founder Shibu Soren’s daughter-in-law Sita Soren switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday, accusing the JMM leadership of neglecting her and her family.
Sita, who was the general secretary of JMM, is a three-time MLA. In her resignation addressed to Shibu Soren, she said she was resigning with a “very sad heart”, and that her husband had worked for the JMM with great dedication and sacrifice.
“Since the demise of my late husband, Durga Soren, who was a leading warrior of the Jharkhand movement and a great revolutionary, I and my family have been victims of continuous neglect. The party and family members have isolated us. It has been extremely painful for me. I had hoped that the situation would improve with time, but unfortunately it did not happen”, the letter read.
Her dissent has not come overnight but was brewing for the past several years, many within the JMM told ThePrint.
In 2009, Sita lost her husband, who would have taken over the reins of the party being the eldest son of JMM patriarch Shibu Soren and also someone who was an ‘integral’ part of the Jharkhand statehood movement.
“His (Durga Soren’s) untimely death not only cut short his political career but paved the way for Hemant Soren to be the successor of the party. After his demise, his wife and daughters ended up becoming a separate power centre within the party and felt continuously sidelined within the party,” said a JMM leader.
Sita Soren who represented the Jama assembly seat from Dumka not only resigned from the party on 19 March but also tendered her resignation as party MLA, claiming she and her family had been sidelined.
She has been a vocal critic of her brother-in-law Hemant Soren’s government too. For instance, in April 2022, she had accused the Hemant Soren government of being ineffective in curbing the “loot of land” in the mineral-rich state. However, many within the JMM claim that while she was dissatisfied with the party, she had no intention of leaving it.
‘Note for vote’ case
Sita Soren’s name had come up in the ‘note for vote’ case. She is accused of accepting a bribe from an independent candidate in the 2012 Rajya Sabha elections.
Soren had moved the top court after the Patna High Court refused to quash the corruption FIR against her. She had quoted the Supreme Court’s 1998 judgment in the JMM bribery case, which said MP/MLAs have immunity even in bribery cases. Her contention before the top court was that she didn’t vote in that election and hence was covered under the 1998 SC ruling that protected lawmakers similarly placed.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court overruled the 1998 JMM bribery case ruling, removing the immunity it extended to lawmakers involved in a corruption case.
Resultantly, Sita Soren would have had to face trial before the special CBI court, which is already examining witnesses in the 2012 horse trading case, JMM leaders said.
“The CBI has a horse trading case against her. She must have been pressurised and given in thinking she did not have any other option. We are quite sure she will now get relief in that case. Apne aap ko bachane ke liye unhone BJP join ki hai (She joined BJP to save herself),” said JMM leader Manoj Pandey.
Also read: Forged documents, power broker & ‘illegal’ mining — what are the ED cases involving Hemant Soren
Impact on party’s prospects
Asked what impact it would have on the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections, Pandey said it won’t have any impact at all.
“1 percent bhi asar nahi hoga elections pe. Isse pehle bhi isse inse bade neta JMM chor kar gaye hai aur phir wo khud wapas aaye hai. (There will not even be a 1 percent impact on elections. Before this too, bigger JMM leaders have left and returned) This is a suicidal step. This party is of Guruji and Hemant Soren has helped it reach this position,” he added.
Many in the JMM claim that Sita Soren’s exit would not have any impact on the party as well as its electoral prospects.
“Family se inka wajood hai. Durga ji (Sita Soren’s husband) ne party ko bohat aage badhaya and inka BJP join karna unke sapno ko todna hai (Her identity comes from family. Her husband Durga ji took the party forward and her joining the BJP is like crashing his dreams). There are such senior MLAs within the party who are still not part of the cabinet and they have never complained but she has always expressed her dissatisfaction,” Pandey added.
‘Jharkhand is miles away from development’
The BJP welcomed Sita Soren in the party’s fold calling her ‘Jharkhand ki neta’, ‘adivasi neta’. “Jharkhand mai ek aur taakat BJP ki badhi hai. Assembly election mai iska alag asar dikhega (BJP’s strength has grown in Jharkhand. The effects will be visible in the assembly polls too),” said senior BJP leader Vinod Tawde.
While being inducted in the BJP in Delhi, Sita Soren said she was joining the ‘Mahaparivar of PM Modi’ after leaving the JMM. “I also struggled a lot and was with JMM for 14 years. Under my father-in-law Shibhu Soren ji and my husband, the dream of Jharkhand becoming a separate state was realised,” she said.
In her joining speech, Sita Soren stressed on the contribution of her husband Durga Soren in the statehood movement. “It was his dream.. how to make Jharkhand a developed state. My husband worked very hard and fought for ‘jal, jungle, zameen’. But his battle remained incomplete because when my husband was alive he wanted to be in politics and become an MLA and serve the state. But that remained a dream,” she said.
“To fulfil his dream I became an MLA. But the place we should have reached in all these 24 years we could not. The public wants change and even I feel that despite my husband’s contribution in ensuring a separate state, Jharkhand is miles away from development. Hence, I decided to join the mahaparivar of Modi ji,” added Sita as she pledged to ensure BJP emerges victorious in all the state’s 14 Lok Sabha seats.
Also read: ‘No locus standi’ — ED questions Soren govt’s ‘interference’ with mining probe in Jharkhand
How it will impact Jharkhand elections
In the 2019 general elections, the BJP had won 11 out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand, while its ally AJSU secured one seat. Both the JMM and Congress have one seat each. For the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has already announced candidates for 11 seats, while the INDIA bloc is yet to announce its nominees as talks continue among allies, including the JMM and Congress, over seat-sharing.
The BJP has been eyeing the tribal vote bank with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year announcing a Rs 24,000 crore welfare mission for 2.8 million vulnerable tribal groups. Standing before a statue of Birsa Munda, Modi had made a speech in Khunti but his message was not limited to Jharkhand but aimed at tribal areas across the country. In 2019, the BJP had won 31 of 47 reserved seats in 2019, and 27 of the 47 seats in 2014, a tally it wants to increase further as NDA looks to cross the 400-mark.
Whether it was Hemant Soren taking over the reins of the party, to the increasing clout of Hemant’s wife Kalpana Soren, Sita has always been vocal in expressing her dissatisfaction within the political family. Eyebrows were raised in 2021, when Sita Soren’s daughters had floated a separate outfit called Durga Soren. Though they had claimed it was a non-political outfit, many within the party had seen it as Sita trying to create another power centre using the Soren legacy.
Sita had been unhappy that one of the probable candidates named for the CM’s post was Kalpana Soren, Hemant Soren’s wife, and had openly opposed the move.
“Sita Soren can’t take on the Soren legacy as it has already been politically transferred to Hemant who has proved his mettle. Just like between the Chirag Paswan and Pashupati Paras battle over the Lok Janshakti Party it is Chirag who has emerged victorious. The BJP is aware of this but what it is trying to do is to create unrest and trouble within the Soren family which it had earlier tried to do with Akhilesh Yadav, by inducting his sister-in-law in the BJP. Her entry was more for optics,” said a JMM functionary.
Explaining the rationale behind the move, as far as BJP is considered, a party functionary said that after the BJP’s experiment with a non-tribal Chief Minister (Raghubar Das) failed, it brought back Babulal Marandi and wants to focus on tribal politics and Sita Soren fits well in that role.
“She alone is not a big face but the party is looking to focus on the Soren legacy. In Jharkhand the tribals largely fall under two categories — Christian and non-Christian — with the former largely supporting the Congress and the latter JMM. The BJP is focusing on the JMM votebank and ‘Guru ji ki bahu’ fits well in that tribal politics role,’ said a BJP leader.
The BJP is also hoping that after Sita Soren’s exit, more such defections may happen ahead of the elections. “The longer Hemant Soren will remain in the ED custody the more untenable it will be to run the party,” the BJP leader further said.
Senior BJP leader Sunil Kumar expressed confidence that Sita Soren’s entry will further strengthen the party’s poll prospects. “She is a prominent adivasi leader and expressing confidence in PM Modi’s vision for the country she decided to join the party. She has been quite vocal about the shadow government that is being run in the state and how there’s no internal democracy. Her entry will have a positive impact across the state and it will help the BJP to penetrate into the tribal belt,” he told ThePrint.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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