Non-Tribal Chief Minister for Jharkhand ?

By Deepak Parvatiyar

November 11, 2014

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha recently called for the need of a non-tribal chief minister in the poll–bound Jharkhand.

The statement of Sinha, an influential upper caste leader from the state, has more than one political undertone –

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● The tribal leadership has failed the state

● Sinha senses an opportunity either to himself or for his proxy to have a go at the CM-ship in case the BJP wins the elections

Jharkhand: Politicizing Tribal Identity

At a time when the mineral-rich Jharkhand has empty coffers largely because of political mismanagement and governance issues, Sinha may be chancing his arms. Yet, what seems beyond the obvious is that Jharkhand should embrace the reality that it is not a tribal-dominated state that it has been made out to be all these years since its inception in November 2000.

The very struggle for a separate Jharkhand state was for the self-determination for the tribals in 1952. It was in the 1970s that the tribals picked up arms in an undivided Bihar for a separate state for themselves, Jharkhand, where they could not be exploited by money lenders, and corrupt forest department officials who were seen to be hand-in-glove with the self-serving politicians.

However, the creation of Jharkhand failed to serve the cause of the tribal population in the state.

The reasons are manifold – innocent tribals became crucial vote banks for the political parties to eye for and they exploited them by placing the carrot of tribal CMs before them. This, in the process, led to an extremely fragile political atmosphere because of the non-tribal majority in Jharkhand who felt discriminated and voted along caste-lines. The more the political parties tried to play up the tribal card, the more the state slipped into political uncertainty, elections after elections.

The consequences of Vote bank Politics in Jharkhand

● The state never had a stable government ever since its creation

● The mainstream political parties played the tribal card to their benefit than to serve the cause of the tribal while the smaller parties remained fence sitters, more keen on protecting their nuisance value in the corridors of power

● With tribal leaders resorting to opportunistic politics, even the JMM that had waged a battle for a separate tribal state began using tribals as a “voting fodder”, in quest of power in the new state

● No new big industry came up ever since the inception of the state

● Jharkhand in under the debt of Rs 36,000 crore

The political parties, national as well as regional share the blame for Jharkhand’s misery even if one ignores the historical blunder of creating a ‘tribal’ state with an overwhelming majority of non-tribals (It may be mentioned that originally Jharkhand was envisaged to be created as a much larger province comprising tribal districts of West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. However, when it was finally constituted, the tribal were still a minority in state carved out of tribal districts of just one state, Bihar).

Mineral-Rich Jharkhand: Milch Cow for Politicians

Given its vast natural resources and the fact that Jharkhand has 40 per cent of the country’s mineral reserves, the state has ostensibly been treated as a milch cow by self-serving politicians, contractors and mining mafia for whom shaky regimes and weak CMs vis-à-vis a divided tribal society have been exactly to their liking.

Among the tribal belts of North India, Jharkhand (with a tribal population of 26.34 per cent) is the only state that always had tribal chief ministers. But given lack of mass support, in barely 14 years of its existence, Jharkhand saw a chief minister being either replaced or displaced, on nine occasions.

Little surprise therefore that the poor tribals, despite having successive CMs from their ilk, still feel oppressed and are picking up arms and sheltering naxalites. (Today, 22 of the state’s 24 districts are in the grip of the Maoist insurgents!)

Lack of Leadership among Tribals

Much of the blame for the present state of Jharkhand could also be attributed to the lack of leadership in tribal society. Unlike the tribes of the north-east, the tribes of Jharkhand and mainland India are not exposed to modern education, and often face the trauma of dispossession. They are invariably dominated upon by upper castes and even the dalits and OBCs, who enjoy superiority also because of their better political standing.

Studies show that while the Dalits matter in about 300 parliamentary constituencies, the tribal vote, in sharp contrast, could influence hardly about 50 such constituencies.

Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand: Studies in Contrast

The neighbouring Chhattisgarh, which too was formed in November 2000, has a comparatively larger tribal population comprising 31.82 per cent of its total population. Though it had a tribal CM (Ajit Jogi of the Congress) in the initial three years of its inception, thereafter, it voted for Raman Singh (BJP), a non-tribal, who has remained its CM since 2003. The state has seen only two CMs since its inception after being carved out of Madhya Pradesh, and it stands comparatively taller than Jharkhand in the development index!

Interestingly, the undivided Madhya Pradesh, with largest tribal population in North/South India, never had a tribal chief minister. Even after its bifurcation, MP still has a sizeable 20.26 per cent tribal population, but never had a tribal CM.

Jharkhand’s another neighbour with sizeable tribal population, Odisha (22.19 per cent), has thus far seen only two tribal CMs — Giridhar Gamang and Hemanand Biswal since Independence.

Obviously, tribals of Jharkhand which has a non-tribal population of almost 74 per cent are luckier than their counterparts in Odisha, MP and Chhattisgarh. Yet, paradoxically, this tribal fixation of the political parties has also proved to be their nemesis.

So, isn’t Sinha right in his call for a non-tribal CM in Jharkhand? Obviously the tribal-centred politics has not helped Jharkhand but instead contributed to its downfall. However, shouldn’t Sinha also call for measures to check self-serving politicians from plundering the resources of the state? After all, his party, the BJP ruled the state for the longest period!