The BJP flag.
Credit: PTI Photo
With the first phase of the campaign for the two-phase elections in Jharkhand ending on November 11, both NDA and I.N.D.I.A bloc are pulling out all the stops to secure victory.
The first phase of voting will take place on November 13 for the 43 seats out of 81 constituencies in the Jharkhand Assembly. The second phase for the remaining 38 seats is slated for November 20.
Interestingly, Jharkhand is one state that has never re-elected an incumbent government since it was carved out of undivided Bihar in November 2000.
The BJP is still leaving no stone unturned in wooing the tribal population, which makes up 26 per cent of the 2.6 crore voters across the state’s 24 districts.
Constituency-wise, 28 out of 81 seats are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (ST). These seats tilted the balance in favour of Hemant Soren in 2019 when the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, comprising the JMM, Congress, RJD and CPI-ML, won 25 out of 28 ST seats. The BJP could win merely two, and Babulal Marandi, the present BJP leader, who then headed the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM), scraped through in one seat.
It’s no wonder that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in rally after rally, have been trying to woo the tribals by doling out incentives, aiming to create a divide between the tribals and the Muslims (who constitute 20 per cent of the population and largely support the I.N.D.I.A bloc).
Roti, beti, mati
“Yeh aapki roti, beti aur mati hadap rahein hain (They are snatching your bread, daughters and land),” Modi said at an election rally in Bokaro on Sunday, dwelling at length how Bangladeshi infiltrators (Muslims) have taken jobs from tribals, married tribal girls and usurped tribal lands.
Earlier, Amit Shah went a step further and asserted that once the BJP comes to power, “We will identify and deport every Bangladeshi infiltrator and take back the land these infiltrators have usurped.”.
Shah cited the decline in tribal population, saying that with Muslim infiltrators marrying innocent tribal girls, the tribal population is decreasing.
Therefore, “the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will be implemented once we come to power, besides enforcing the National Register of Citizen, just like we implemented it in Assam.”
It is this numerically strong 26% of tribals and 20% of Muslims that back the JMM to the hilt and, combined, tilt the balance. Therefore, the BJP, in a strategic move, wants to drive a wedge between the two constituents of the ruling JMM.
Meanwhile, Modi on Sunday held a 3 km road show in Ranchi in favour of BJP candidate CP Singh. He is pitted against Mahua Manjhi of the JMM, who is currently a Rajya Sabha member.