Jharkhand election results: It’s 2019 again for the BJP as the tribal bastion braves polarization for the second time | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: At the height of his popularity after a huge mandate in the Pulwama-powered 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Narendra Modi turned the knife deeper months later in Jharkhand when he noted that he could identify rioters by their clothes. It was the trend of polarization that was expected to build on the vote in his favor and save the unpopular BJP in the tribal state. But he could not defy the state’s tradition of removing the established power.
Five years later, the BJP sent in the fire-breathing Himanta Biswa Sarma and Shivraj Chouhan three months in advance to prepare the field for polarization with sharp comments around the Hindu-Muslim fault line, on which the big guns later waged their campaigns. But this time they could not stop the JMM-plus from defying the incumbent’s handicap.
Five years in a row, Jharkhand has stood like a rock and thwarted communalism. On both occasions, the tribe faces Hemant Soren who triumphantly takes over.
The pattern has brought into sharp relief the uniqueness of the state that emerged from Bihar, which is known for its tribal character but has an overwhelming majority of OBCs; where the indigenous party is counting on three partners to strengthen its rainbow alliance, but is opposing the BJP, which has a national force and agenda that wants to bridge the caste divide through religious consolidation.
Indigenous leader Soren was the underdog, fighting the might of the hegemonic BJP machine, led by the larger-than-life image of Modi, supported by a strong cast of who’s who.
A man who, after more than two years under the hammer, was jailed during the LS polls in an alleged corruption case. The rival plan was to render the underdog rudderless and then overwhelm them. But first Champai Soren, and then Soren’s wife Kalpana, took action and brought about a tribal consolidation that yielded decent results in the parliamentary polls. Six months later, the mood only increased further.
In retrospect, the BJP made a mistake by treating Soren as leaders of the NCP and Shiv Sena or Congress as it created an identity backlash that sank the favorites.
Yet the BJP combination of ‘name, network, resources and rhetoric’ was a huge challenge to overcome. They were all there: Modi, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath and Biswa Sarma. From the looks of it, JMM appealed to the masses as the underdog taking on the powerful, as its soft manners and inclusive approach thwarted its rivals’ attempt at religious consolidation. This could only be possible if tribes find allies in the vast OBC bloc and minorities, with a small number of others. The support of the monthly ‘Maiyya Samman’ benefit to women played a role.
Ultimately, Jharkhand would be known as the state that bucked the trend and kept polarization at bay.