Non-tribal CM: Turning Point for Jharkhand

By Deepak Parvatiyar

December 30, 2014

The appointment of Raghubar Das by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the first ever non-tribal chief minister of Jharkhand reflects the truth about the mineral rich state – it was never a tribal-dominated state that it was made out to be since its creation.

Jharkhand has a Majority Non-Tribal Population

The idea behind the creation of the state was self-determination of tribals, yet when the state was created on 15thNovember 2000, the demography did not match the purpose. Instead of forming a state by including tribal dominated districts of Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand was carved out of just one state, Bihar with a highly disproportionate tribal population, comprising just 24 per cent of the total population.

While the resulting fissures in the Jharkhand society was reflected in repeated fractured verdicts, the political parties’ tribal fixation, despite a huge 76 per cent non-tribal population, was even more curious. All these years Jharkhand stayed in denial of its identity.

Tribal-Centric Politics has Few Takers in Jharkhand Now

The latest Assembly elections in the state seems to have set the record right as underscored by the defeats of the previous tribal CMs – Babulal Marandi (Jharkhand Vikas Morcha), Arjun Munda (BJP), Madhu Koda (Jai Bharat Samanta Party). While another CM, Shibu Soren (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) had not contested, his son and the last incumbent before the state elections, Hemant Soren, saved some blushes by losing only one of the two seats from where he had contested.

That the tribal-centric politics is fast losing its steam in the state could well be demonstrated by yet another fact that the ban call by various tribal groups to protest the swearing-in of Das on December 28 was a flop.

Tribal Leadership has only Bred Naxalism, Corruption and Political Instability in Jharkhand

The tribal-centred politics has not helped Jharkhand much. Instead it has resulted in political instability. The state has emerged as a hotbed of the naxal movement.

It, indeed, took 14 long years for the tribal bubble to burst in Jharkhand. The period, while on one hand, saw the state’s finances plummeting to new lows, on the other hand even the tribal leadership failed to emerge with the power revolving around only five tribals who shared the CM’s chair among themselves, irrespective of their political affiliations, on incredible nine different occasions!

It would be worthwhile to point out that  the Jharkhand region, with 40 per cent of India’s mineral deposits, had accounted for about 60 per cent of the state revenue in undivided Bihar. But today, Jharkhand is under a debt of Rs 34,868 crore. Its vast mineral reserve becomes its undoing in light of the unholy collusion between government, politicians, contractors and mining mafia in the state. As they plundered the resources, the grand dream of tribal autonomy went for a toss.

BJP Realised the Futility of Tribal Fixation

It was the veteran party leader Yashwant Sinha who triggered a debate on the issue of tribal versus non-tribal CM for the state as he emphasised on a CM “who can deliver…” .

The writing was on the wall for the tribal leadership much before the state elections. Even Raghubar Das, himself an OBC, had acknowledged in June this year that since the OBCs, Dalits and upper castes formed a sizeable section of the BJP’s support-base, it was the responsibility of the party high command “to respect the feelings of every section of society”.

Das’s prospects brightened after the BJP and its pre-poll alliance partner, the All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU) bagged 18 of the 36 reserved seats in the state.

Raghubar Das: Jharkhand’s Man of the Moment

Being a five time MLA, who was even the state state’s deputy CM in the past, Raghubar Das is already a seasoned politician. He knows that he would be leading the fifth BJP government and overall the tenth government in the state in just about 14 years. The biggest advantage that he has unlike his predecessors is that his party for the first time has absolute majority in the state Assembly. Yet he faces the challenge of checking illegal mining, naxalism as well as rampant corruption to steer the debt ridden state to prosperity.

The BJP has tried to assuage tribals’ feelings by assuring that the government’s agenda would be development for all and there would be no discrimination between tribals and non-tribals.

Das, who is a product of the same high school from where Arjun Munda passed out, needs to overcome the tribal versus non-tribal mindset in Jharkhand. As for the BJP, it has the example of tribal-dominated Chhattisgarh, where the party has had yet another successful non-tribal, Raman Singh, as CM.