'Abua Raj, Abua Sarkar': How Hemant Soren aced the 'Adivasi test' to clinch Jharkhand

With the stunning outcome, JMM-led alliance has also broken a 24-year jinx of the state never returning an incumbent government to power.

If public statements by mass leaders are an indication of the state of current and impending political developments, then, Hemant Soren's presser on Saturday was certainly one.

As trends solidified into real numbers and a commanding victory for the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led INDIA bloc was near certain, the incumbent Jharkhand chief minister, addressing mediapersons in Ranchi said that his party had successfully passed the 'test of democracy' and it is the beginning of a history of ‘Abua Raj’ and ‘Abua Sarkar’. ‘Abua Raj’ and ‘Abua Sarkar’ stand for ‘own state’ and ‘own government’.

On Saturday, the INDIA bloc glided to victory with 56 seats in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly. The JMM won 34 seats, the Congress won 16, while the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RJD) and the CPI(ML)L won four and two seats respectively.

With the stunning outcome, JMM-led alliance has also broken a 24-year jinx of the state never returning an incumbent government to power.

Amid all the euphoric celebration of a decisive victory, Soren's words call for greater scrutiny, especially when the Opposition led by Bharatiya Janata Party led a campaign centered around tribal insecurity, widespread infiltration in tribal pockets and altered demographics.

How 'tribal connect' allowed Soren to thwart BJP's 'infiltration' rhetoric

Ever since he stepped out of Jail following the bail order by the Jharkhand HC, Soren linked his controversial jail term to the question of tribal asmita (pride). In every election speech, he reminded ordinary people how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had detained a tribal son and conspired against the adivasis.

This helped the senior JMM leader emerge as the biggest leader, not only of his own tribal group, the Santhals – the biggest scheduled tribe (ST) in the state, comprising roughly a third of the province’s adivasi population – but also blank out other competing tribal leaders from the BJP among groups such as Oraon, Munda and Ho.

When people chose 'welfare initiatives' over 'fear' mongering

A preliminary reading of the poll outcome show that JMM gained significantly by the response among rural women to its Mukhyamantri Maiya Samman Yojana, which gave Rs 1,000 to poor women. By making the cash transfer scheme the centrepiece of its welfare outreach, the JMM was able to build a new of group of voters in every constituency whose identities lay beyond the traditional leanings of community or region.

It helped arrest the development narrative that the BJP has successfully used elsewhere, and blunt allegations of corruption – especially in those 68 seats where more women voted than men.

When Kalpana Soren led a spirited campaign

When Soren was serving his jail term, his insistence on pushing his wife, Kalpana Soren, into prominence seem to have paid rich dividends. Although, in hindsight, it appeared a risky strategy – after all, her rising prominence at the time of his arrest had led to rumblings in the party and it was also among the issues responsible for the exit of senior leader Champai Soren months before the elections (he joined the BJP). But together, the Soren couple put the chief minister’s persona and his jail stint the emotive core of their campaign.

When BJP failed to woo the tribals

The saffron party's attempt to woo tribal votes by raising concerns about Bangladeshi infiltration has flopped, as it failed to win many seats in the Santhal Pargana region. Most of its victories came from its traditional strongholds in Palamu and North Chotanagpur. In Kolhan, where the BJP had high hopes riding on Champai Soren, the results fell below expectations. Although Champai won his Saraikela seat, his son Babulal Soren lost from Ghatshila. In the last Assembly election, the BJP failed to win any of the 14 Assembly seats in Kolhan.

How JMM blunted BJP's UCC pitch with a demand for Sarna Code

While BJP raked up the issue of demographic change in Santhal Pargana, JMM banked on Sarna Code demand and welfare promises to protect tribal rights. To counter BJP's UCC pitch, the JMM vociferously demanded for a separate religious identity for tribals the run-up to the assembly election. While BJP has not opposed the Sarna code in the past, it has not been vocal on the subject either.

Jharkhand has a large tribal population, and for years, the tribal community has seen itself as a distinct group, seeking a separate cultural, religious, and social identity. The tribal groups demanding a separate code argued that till 1941, tribals had a separate column in the census and it was removed in 1951 census.