Dismal results in Haryana, Maharashtra have forced BJP to tweak their strategy.
NEW DELHI :Taken aback by the “below expectation” performance in Haryana and Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party is treading cautiously in Jharkhand, where Assembly elections are likely to be held in December.
What is worrying the BJP leadership is its own internal assessment that it may not win more than 30 out of 81 seats in the present circumstances. The latest results in Haryana and Maharashtra have prompted the BJP leaders to tweak their strategy and formulate a “fool proof” plan for Jharkhand. If the trend continues in Jharkhand, they feel, it will be difficult to retain power in the eastern state.
The party has already appointed veteran leader O.P. Mathur as the election in-charge and Nand Kishore Yadav as the co-incharge. The Election Commission is likely to announce the schedule in a week or two.
“Though BJP ran a majority government in the state, it should not be forgotten that the party got just 37 seats in 2014 Assembly elections, while its alliance partner All Jharkhand Students’ Union 5. Thus, the alliance was just one seat ahead of the magic figure of 41. The government somehow became stable only after 6 MLAs from Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) joined the BJP later on,” a source said.
Despite Jharkhand being a tribal-dominated state, the party took the risk of making a non-tribal, Raghubar Das, the Chief Minister. The Opposition parties have been successful in painting the government as “anti-tribal”, especially after it tried to amend the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, which protects the rights of the tribal people.
“There is considerable anti-tribal sentiment against the government. Sensing this, the party decided to induct a former CM and a big tribal face Arjun Munda, into the Union Cabinet after the Lok Sabha election, as part of the ‘balancing act’. The party wants both Raghubar Das and Arjun Munda to be the faces in the election campaign. When Das started the ‘Jan Ashirvad Yatra’ to connect with the people, Amit Shah insisted that Arjun Munda must accompany him on the ‘rath’ designed for the purpose. The message was clear that tribals are important in the BJP’s scheme of things,” said a party source.
The root of the anti-tribal sentiment lies in the Land Acquisition Bill, 2017, which was passed by the state Assembly and approved by the President, and enables the government to eliminate the step of conducting a social impact assessment for land acquisition. There is a fear among the tribals that their land will be taken away by the government in the name of development. In November 2016, the state government made amendments in the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act (SPTA) and Chotanagpur Tenancy Act (CTA), which prohibits sale of tribal land to non-tribals. However, there was strong opposition to this amendment and subsequently, Governor Draupadi Murmu returned the Bills for reconsideration. The Raghubar Das government finally withdrew the Bills in August 2017.
According to Jharkhand-based sources, BJP’s decision to induct sitting MLA Bhanu Pratap Shahi and ex-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Shashi Bhushan Mehta into the party has not gone down well even among the party’s supporters. While Shahi, a former Minister of the Madhu Koda government, is accused in a medicine scam, Mehta is accused in the murder case of the warden of a school, run by him. This correspondent spoke to many state BJP leaders who privately expressed their anger at the decision, but refused to say anything on record.
“The BJP calls itself a party with a difference. But it inducts tainted people like them on the eve of elections. This has adversely affected the perception about the ruling party, which may be detrimental to its prospectus at the hustings,” one of them said.
According to him, the people of Jharkhand voted BJP and its alliance partner All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU), giving 12 out of 14 Lok Sabha seats. “But that was a national election. The same performance may not be repeated in the Assembly elections. Haryana and Maharashtra have come as an eye-opener for the party leadership. The message is clear. You cannot take the voters for granted. There are issues of economic slowdown, unemployment, farmers’ distress. Migration is a big issue in Jharkhand. These need to be addressed,” he said.
He, however, added that the situation may change if the verdict on the Ayodhya Ram Janambhhomi case is announced next month. “In case the verdict comes in favour of the Hindus, it will definitely affect the voting pattern,” he added.
A senior party leader, however, said: “We understand the challenges in Jharkhand. For us, no election is a cakewalk. We put in our best in each election. We will be especially careful while selection of candidates as there is some anti-incumbency at the constituency level as well. Ours was the first government (in the state) which completed its full term. We hope that we will be able to get the mandate for the second consecutive term.”