Disconnect with indigenous communities of Jharkhand leads to saffron party's defeat

New Delhi: In the recent drubbing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the just-concluded Assembly elections in Jharkhand, what seems to be one of the main reason for the defeat could be their failed experiment of going ahead with a non-tribal as chief ministerial candidate and policies that were largely seen as anti-tribal.

The state was created particularly for the welfare of the tribal people of the region, in November 2000. Babulal Marandi, a tribal, was at the time named by the BJP as the state's first chief minister, he was, however, later replaced by Arjun Munda.

But after coming to power in alliance with the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), in 2014, the saffron party elevated Raghubar Das as the state's first non-tribal chief minister. Das by trying to amend local land laws—the Santhal Pargana Tenancy (SPT) Act and also the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act (CNT)— hurt the sentiments of the tribal populace, who constitute nearly 26 per cent of the electorate in the state.

The resentment among the state's indigenous communities against the BJP also gathered steam after Hemant Soren touched the chords of the people with the slogan save 'Jal, Jungle, Zameen'. The grouse that was palpable throughout the election campaign was – the BJP is trying to grab the land of the local people. Former Congress president, Rahul Gandhi, during his rally in the state, had also promised to protect the tribal people of Jharkhand.

Furthermore, before the Assembly elections, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar had announced the withdrawal of the draft of amendments to Indian Forest Act 2018, several proposals in this draft had further triggered an uproar with many activists claiming that the amendments sought to establish the forest department's hold over the state's forest resources. This too did not go down well with the tribal people who worship nature and are emotionally attached to traditions and forests.