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The BJP has alleged that the ruling JMM-led coalition has allowed demographic change in the state to secure its vote bank. It remains to be seen if “illegal migration” can be a deciding factor for Santhal Pargana
While the BJP has banked on the charisma of PM Narendra Modi, the JMM-led coalition has heavily depended on Kalpana Soren’s ‘woman power’. (Image: PTI/File)
Jharkhand has voted in the first phase of the assembly elections, amid a high-decibel campaign on the issue of illegal immigration of Bangladeshis. The BJP made this its biggest poll plank, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeating his message of ‘Ek hain toh safe hain’ over and over.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah also promised a new law to safeguard tribal land ownership to keep it away from the clutches of alleged illegal migrants. But, the real test of this issue will be to see if sways voters in the Santhal Pargana division.
SANTHAL PARGANA DIVISION
The division has six districts – Deoghar, Godda, Dumka, Jamtara, Sahibganj and Pakur. Together they have 18 seats, seven of which are reserved for scheduled tribes (ST). The 2011 Census indicates that across Sahibganj, Pakur, Dumka, and Rajmahal, the tribal population has been decreasing.
While updated figures are awaited, estimates by political parties suggest that some constituencies have witnessed a complete demographic shift. In both Pakur and Rajmahal, for example, the Muslim population is touted to be touching 50 percent in some assembly segments.
Nayabasti in Rajmahal is an example often cited – from barren land to more than 100 families, mostly Muslims, settling down. Some tribals have complained that from panchayat elections to local issues, their voices are lost because of the demographic change.
The BJP has alleged that the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has allowed this demographic change in its home turf (the Sorens belong to Dumka) to secure a vote bank. Would it then mean that “illegal migration” can be a deciding factor for Santhal Pargana?
While Jharkhand does not share a direct boundary with Bangladesh, Pakur and Sahibganj districts are just across the Ganga from West Bengal. Local BJP leaders have alleged that from Malda and Murshidabad, Bangladeshi men, women and children are smuggled in by a well-oiled trafficking racket.
Once inside India, the agents keep fake Aadhaar cards, ration cards and even passport ready. A boat ride across the Ganga gets these alleged Bangladeshis to Jharkhand where temporary shelters first crop up on railway land and then these turn into permanent colonies. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) this week arrested at least three people in the state for allegedly running this racket.
‘MAIYA SAMMAN NIDHI’
The JMM is hoping the roti, beti, maati narrative of the BJP will be effectively countered by its ‘Maiya Samman Yojana’, which offers every woman in the state, in the 18 to 50 age group, a cash transfer of Rs 1,000.
Three instalments of the scheme have been transferred and Chief Minister Hemant Soren has been telling voters that if the BJP had not forwarded the elections by a month, he would have ensured a fourth instalment before the model code of conduct was enforced.
The BJP has tried to counter this scheme by promising Rs 2,000 if voted to power. But, in a game of populism, the JMM-led coalition government announced that the scheme amount will go up to Rs 2,500 if it returns to power.
The scheme definitely has resonance among women voters. In rural pockets of Kolhan region, which voted in the first phase, women made their presence felt.
Hence, the JMM is hoping that just as the woman vote bank ushered in the BJP with a big mandate in Madhya Pradesh on the back of the Ladli Behna Yojana, this scheme will have a similar effect in Jharkhand.
Kalpana Soren
Kalpana Soren, the wife of Hemant Soren, has also emerged as the X-factor in the election. While the BJP has banked on the charisma of Modi and Shah by pulling in big crowds to their rallies, the JMM has heavily depended on Kalpana’s “woman power”.
She has gone from block to block connecting with women voters, who on many occasions have been spotted listening to her with rapt attention. A political novice who made her electoral debut after her husband’s arrest, she is in demand to campaign for the INDIA candidates as well. Originally from Odisha, she has managed to negate the outsider tag too by connecting with tribal women in smaller sabhas.
The BJP, however, has accused the JMM-Congress-RJD of turning a blind eye to national security and tribal rights to appease their Muslim vote bank. But, in Santhal Pargana, the real vote bank could be women. Come November 23, the answer will be out. The question this time is the choice between economic samman of the maiya, or the more existential, roti, beti, maati.
