Ranchi: A 49 pound cake was prepared with much fanfare for Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on his 49th birthday. Out on bail after five months in jail, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief flaunted an image of a prisoner’s stamp on his hand.
“Today, on the occasion of my birthday, the memory of the past one year is imprinted in my heart – that is the prisoner’s stamp – which was put on my hand when I was released from jail. This mark is not just of mine, but a symbol of the current challenges of our democracy,” Soren posted 10 August on ‘X’ originally in Hindi.
The stamp was put by the jail authorities when he was released from jail on 28 June in a case related to an alleged land scam.
“When an elected Chief Minister can be put in jail for 150 days without any evidence, without any complaint, without any crime, then what will he do with the tribals, Dalits, exploited…,” he posted.
Soren’s message was not lost on anyone, both followers and detractors alike, in poll-bound Jharkhand.
आज अपने जन्मदिन के मौक़े पर बीते एक साल की स्मृति मेरे मन में अंकित है – वह है यह कैदी का निशान – जो जेल से रिहा होते वक्त मुझे लगाया गया। यह निशान केवल मेरा नहीं, बल्कि हमारे लोकतंत्र की वर्तमान चुनौतियों का प्रतीक है।
जब एक चुने हुए मुख्यमंत्री को बिना किसी सबूत, बिना कोई… pic.twitter.com/TsKovjS1HY
— Hemant Soren (@HemantSorenJMM) August 10, 2024
The JMM leader is seeking to make his five-month-long incarceration a poll issue against the BJP, repeatedly talking about it in his public meetings. Soren had resigned as the CM shortly before his arrest on 31 January. The Supreme Court rejected the Enforcement Directorate’s plea challenging the bail granted to Soren on 29 July.
The same day talking to the media outside Jharkhand assembly during the Monsoon session, Soren said, “It appears as if I had usurped huge assets of the state and absconded for which I was put behind bars and the Soren family was accused of a lot of things.”
“Had they (the opposition BJP) not wasted valuable time, I would have addressed the needs of the people and served them in a better way. The Supreme Court is most important and I believe it is one pillar of democracy where darkness is not there,” he said.
His wife and MLA Kalpana Soren asserted that the truth has prevailed in the case. “However my question remains how Hemant ji could be compensated for the five months he lost.”
In the monsoon session of the assembly, Soren had taken a dig at the BJP, saying that a “light mirror” was shown to them in the parliamentary elections, whereas they would be shown a full-length mirror in the assembly polls.
Earlier on 30 June, while addressing the people in Santhali at a event organised in Sahibganj on the occasion of ‘Hul Rebellion’, Soren had said, “those who speak against the BJP, work in the interest of the tribals, the poor, and the Dalits, are put in jail by hook or crook. I was also kept in jail for five months. But for how long will they suppress the truth? The truth cannot be bound in chains.”
Battlelines drawn in Jharkhand
Jharkhand is set for polls in November-December. A fierce tussle is emerging between the ruling JMM-Congress combine and the opposition BJP to retain and snatch power.
“Note that JMM had strongly raised the arrest of Hemant Soren as an issue, especially among the tribals, during the Lok Sabha elections. The JMM strategists and cadres were successful in conveying the message that Soren has been arrested as part of a political conspiracy. The tribals also considered it a ploy of the BJP. Results in the tribal areas can be seen as a backfire for BJP,” political analyst Rajat Kumar Gupta says.
The BJP lost all five tribal reserved seats with over 1.2 lakh votes in four of them. Of the total 14 parliamentary seats in Jharkhand, the BJP won only 8, including the Scheduled Caste reserved seat of Palamu. Its overall vote share went down from about 51.6 percent in 2019 to 44.60 percent.
“Now the order made by the Supreme Court while rejecting the ED’s plea is a relief for Soren. Obviously, he does not want to let this space go empty, and he is sharpening his weapon with some ambitious plans of the government,” Gupta told ThePrint.
Leader of the Opposition Amar Kumar Bauri asserted that Soren was trying to cover up his own failures.
“The truth is that Soren is less bothered about the days he spent in jail and more about his own gains by staying away from power for five months. Removing a senior leader like Champai Soren from the chair of CM is an example,” the BJP leader said.
“The second important thing is that as a chief minister, Hemant Soren did not fulfill a single promise made to the people and ignored the mandate. That is why he is trying to cover this up.”
In the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, 28 seats are reserved for tribals. All these seats fall in Santhal Pargana, Kolhan and North Chotanagpur regions. Back in 2019, the BJP lost both its hold on tribal segments and the government in Jharkhand, as it won only two seats reserved for tribals.
After the Lok Sabha poll results, BJP is devising strategies to overcome this setback and return to power. Several rounds of strategies and meetings are on with workers joining in the brainstorming sessions.
As the election in-charge of BJP, Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and co-in-charge Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma are leading the front. Sarma has visited various districts along with Santhal Pargana and has held meetings with cadres and supporters at least 10 times in the last one and a half months.
BJP leaders are raising the pitch over ‘Bangladeshi infiltrators’ and changing demography in Santhal Pargana, alleging that the government has pushed the tribals to the margins in the region.
“Hemant Soren’s pain over the five months he spent in jail is a natural reaction. It should not be seen in any other way. He has emerged as a challenge for the BJP while facing a deep political conspiracy,” Dashrath Gagrai, the JMM MLA from Kharsawan, said
“As far as the allegations of the BJP and the baseless issues being raised are concerned, everything has been rejected by the public. Our government has implemented many important schemes and has also given top priority to the sentiments of the people of Jharkhand. The BJP will have to face defeat in the assembly elections as well,” he told ThePrint.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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