of Deposit Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s election victory on Friday has given a much-needed boost to the Jharkhand Democratic People’s Movement (JMM)-led coalition government in the state ahead of the state assembly elections scheduled for later this year.
Just before his arrest in January 2023, Soren resigned and Champhai Soren became chief minister.Following his arrest, Soren’s wife, Kalpana Soren, became the face of the JMM. With her oratory skills, she was able to evoke a Jharkhand identity and build a strong support base among women. Kalpana also participated in various national campaigns for the Indian Bloc, leading to a victory in the Gandhi by-elections held at the same time as the Lok Sabha elections by a margin of 26,000 votes.
In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the JMM-led alliance won six seats. The JMM won three on its own and the Indian National Congress won two. The BJP won seven and its ally, the All Jharkhand Students’ Union, won one. However, all five seats secured by the STs were lost to the JMM alliance.
The BJP also lost by 22,000 votes in the tribal-majority Dumka constituency, where it had fielded Soren’s sister-in-law, Seeta Soren, indicating the continued influence of the JMM and its allies in the state’s tribal areas, which is likely to have strengthened following Soren’s arrest.
“The Lok Sabha elections did not yield any results in favour of the BJP in the tribal seats of Jharkhand. It will be important to see what strategy the BJP devisees for the 28 tribal seats in the Assembly,” the BJP leader said.
Soren’s release is a new element and the JMM is expected to try and garner sympathy.
The JMM leader admitted that their initial expectation was that Soren would remain in jail till the state assembly elections so that the party could speak out about the “injustice meted out to him”. “We also drew parallels between Jesuit priest and human rights activist Stan Swami (who died in custody in the Bhima Koregaon case) and Hemant Soren. Both faced punishment for speaking out against the downtrodden classes. Both were jailed and treated injustice… Now that Hemant Soren has been released, the strategy to deal with the situation will change,” the source said.
On Kalpana’s future role, a party leader said, “It remains to be seen how the Enforcement Directorate will react (to Soren’s bail), so Kalpana may take up a ministerial post. The Enforcement Directorate may challenge the bail in the High Court or file a separate case against Soren. Either way, Kalpana Soren will be actively politically active.”
There is also a sense within the BJP camp that his release on bail will force him to change his campaign. The party has taken a tough stance, saying Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the BJP’s Jharkhand election incumbent, and Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will come up with a “strong strategy”.
But a BJP leader acknowledged that Soren’s release was a setback in the direction the party was heading: “The tribals will ask how Soren got bail… They will ask why the court granted bail to (Delhi Chief Minister) Arvind Kejriwal. They will question the investigation. Now that Soren is out of jail, things will become more difficult for us.”
The party officially played it cool: BJP spokesman Vinay Singh said: “The law is on track and we will respect it.”
