SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, June 22: The BJP might have played a masterstroke in picking former Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu for the President’s post, apparently aimed at wooing the women electorate and the tribal population in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, but it has put Chief Minister Hemant Soren in a fix.
Hemant Soren, a Santhali, the tribal community to which Droupadi Murmu belongs, has not said a word over the BJP’s choice. He has neither welcomed the candidature of Droupadi Murmu nor supported Yashwant Sinha so far.
“The party (JMM) will take a decision over it,” he said.
Incidentally, Soren, also the JMM’s acting president, had not attended the Opposition meeting on the Presidential candidates called by Mamata Banerjee. Instead, he had sent two of his emissaries to participate in the meeting.
The BJP’s decision to offer the country’s top constitutional job to Droupadi Murmu, who hails from Odisha (Mayurbhanj), has come at a time when the party has launched an intensive campaign against Soren alleging him and his family members of indulging in neck-deep corruption.
In choosing Murmu, the BJP has shown the Opposition that their candidate is better symbolically and politically compared to the Opposition’s choice — Yashwant Sinha — who has always been perceived as a Modi-baiter.
Murmu, 64, with her long career in education as a teacher, and in politics as a two term MLA and minister (between 2000-2004) in the coalition government of the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal-BJP government in the State and her record as being the first governor of Jharkhand to complete the full term (2015-2021) more than fits the bill.
So, the JMM, which has a foothold in tribal areas in Odisha too, will find it difficult not to support her gotiya (one of his own community) and vote alongside the BJP for ‘espousing tribal cause.’ There are around 1.5 crore Santhals in the country, including Jharkhand, Odisha, Bengal and Bihar.
It is a sort of Pratibha Patil moment for the JMM, said a political watcher. When the UPA picked up Patil in 2007 as a presidential candidate, the Shiv Sena, then an important member of the NDA, had supported her in the Presidential election.
Shiv Sena boss Bal Thackeray had then said, “The country has not had a Marathi President since independence… It is Maharashtra’s fortune that a Marathi woman is for the first time becoming the President,” Thackeray had said.
Droupadi Murmu had taken over as the first tribal Governor of Jharkhand in 2015 after the BJP experimented with a non-tribal chief minister Raghubar Das. And she continued beyond her five-year tenure till July 20, 2021.
Hemant Soren, who was sworn in as chief minister in 2019, enjoyed a cordial relation with Droupadi Murmu. Hemant alongwith his wife Kalpana Soren always touched her feet whenever he called on her at the Raj Bhawan. Incidentally, Kalpana Soren and her elder sister-in-law Sita Soren also hail from Odisha.
On the other hand, Yashwant Sinha’s candidature has put his son Jayant Sinha, also a BJP MP from Hazaribagh in a dilemma. So much so that Jayant uploaded a video on the Facebook saying that there should not be any confusion regarding his political responsibility.
Jayant said he should not be seen merely as a son but also a member of parliament from the BJP and he was aware of his responsibility. “I have been getting several media questions since the Opposition picked up my father as the presidential candidate. It is not a family matter. I am a member of the BJP and will discharge my constitutional responsibility honestly,” he maintained.
Interestingly, a demand has gained ground in Jharkhand that Yashwant Sinha, also connected with Jharkhand for quite a long time, withdraw from the presidential race.
A JMM leader also said that Sinha, who represented Hazaribagh in the Lok Sabha, for a long time will not contest and thus save the JMM from embarrassment.
Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda said that it is a proud moment for the tribal community. “Droupadi Murmu’s nomination has elevated the dignity of the tribal communities in the country,” he said.
BJP legislature party leader Babulal Marandi also said that it is a historical moment for the tribal community. He said that Sinha should send a good message by withdrawing his candidature and allow Murmu’s uncontested election for the top constitutional post.
