Lessons for BJP from the Jharkhand loss

Kamlendra Kanwar

The steamroller victory of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Congress combine over the BJP in the Jharkhand Assembly election is a saga of better strategising and a generally more accommodative attitude on the Opposition’s part.

The BJP fought the polls without a tie-up with any party. This is the fifth state to slip out of the BJP’s control in one year and reflects the general disenchantment with the ruling party at the Centre.

In the past, the Congress has been accused of arrogance and a generally overbearing attitude, but fighting with its back to the wall with a plethora of setbacks in elections, this time around there was a degree of humility unknown to it in the past. It was prepared to play second fiddle to the JMM.

That it managed to wean the JMM away from the BJP proved to be its trump card. The JMM was a party that had its ears to the ground. With the urban youth aggrieved over the appalling lack of job creation under the previous Raghubar Das government in the state and the dissatisfaction with the farm policies of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, there was a streak of anti-incumbency, which is not uncharacteristic these days across the country.

The BJP had the opportunity to cement its ties with its 2014 poll ally, the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), as also to re-establish ties with the JMM after it moved away first in the Lok Sabha polls and then in the Assembly elections. But it allowed the opportunity to fade away.

The Congress considerably improved its position bagging 16 seats as against six in the 2014 polls, but it can largely be attributed to its ride on JMM’s shoulders. Though it typically was scathing in its criticism of BJP’s policies, it lacked a blueprint for a better deal for people of the state.

As in Haryana and Maharashtra, the BJP experimented with chief ministerial candidates that did not belong to dominant castes. This was repeated in Jharkhand where Das was a non-tribal in a state where tribals dominate. The JMM, on the other hand, thrived on Hemant Soren’s tribal antecedents and his identifying with tribals.

In retrospect, Soren’s dogged electoral work paid off. He addressed an impressive 165 rallies across the state spread over 28 days. There was not a constituency where he did not campaign at least twice.

The fantastic JMM showing in the Assembly poll was in sharp contrast to the Lok Sabha elections where the BJP mauled the regional parties, besides the Congress, in no uncertain terms. When the JMM fought alongside the Congress in the general elections, not only it was handled with care by the Congress leadership, but the JMM leadership was assured by Congress leaders that Soren would be the chief ministerial candidate if the alliance continued for the state polls.

The Congress and the JMM also together played a role in convincing the

AJSU against continuing to align with the BJP as it had in the Lok Sabha polls. Unlike the JMM, which had grassroots leaders, the local BJP had to rely on BJP high command’s diktats.

Yet, it would indeed be foolhardy to think that this would be the end of the road for the BJP in Jharkhand. The new coalition will be watched with a great deal of expectations and any belying of this could turn the tide for the BJP again.

The upcoming dispensation to be led by Soren will be under pressure from the youth to deliver on jobs and by the farmers to improve their conditions. In such a scenario, a resource crunch may well be a huge constraint. Central indulgence with the purse strings may be too much to expect.

A lot would depend on how the BJP leadership deals with the debacle in some states. There is no denying that the party is capable of bouncing back with some shedding of arrogance and a more pragmatic and accommodative approach.

It needs to manage the country’s economy better and humbly learn from its mistakes, including the poor handling of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act with people at large.

Kamlendra Kanwar is a senior journalist. Views expressed are personal.