DR SANTOSH MANAV
Who is a local in Jharkhand? Who will be? Will the 1932 domicile holders be local or will it be something else? While all these are distant matters, what is certain is that Hemant Soren has set the stage for elections that will take place in 2024 or before. Now the politics of Jharkhand will revolve around this narrative. It was also proved that Hemant is an unmatched player in power politics, regardless of whether he is the guardian of Jharkhand. It will not be an easy task to snatch power from him. Moreover, this move by Hemant Soren has put the Congress fleet in hot waters. The party has fallen between two stools.
Now, Jharkhand will be chased by the ‘Ghost of Khatiyan’ for decades. Everyone will use this as a target, whether they are from the ruling party or the opposition. Development, employment, Naxalism, starvation, and crime, all these issues are now in the past. You are either in favour of or against the domicile policy at this point. Hemant is no longer required to provide answers, instead, he will demand them. The BJP’s accusations of mining, land stealing and amassing property worth Rs 250 crores won’t be given attention. Additionally, Basant and Kalpana Soren, Hemant’s brother and wife, should be regarded as exonerated. Up until yesterday, Hemant was on the defence but now he will be on attack mode. In cricket jargon, it can be said that up until yesterday, he played like Sunil Gavaskar, but going forward, he will play like MS Dhoni. The base vote may have risen a little bit as well. The shortcoming may be that Hemant had the potential to be the leader of all of Jharkhand, but that possibility, if not finished, has undoubtedly decreased.
Hemant made a powerful party like BJP look weak. It is now stranded in a no man’s land. This is the reason why there has not been an official response from the BJP even after 24 hours of the announcement. Although Raghubar Das has said something, it is not enough. Nothing is clear. And what will Babulal say? He was the one to start the fire in 2002. A leader of Maharashtra native who went to Rajya Sabha from BJP once said to the author of these lines: Jharkhand will bear the brunt for decades due to the game Babulalji has played to put Saryu Roy away. The situation would have been different if Advaniji would have agreed to make Kadiyaji the chief minister on Vajpayeeji’s advice. Well, now whether it is CBI or ED, Hemant is not going to suffer much. The Mahabali party is too stunned to speak now. The resources are of no use now.
Congress has suffered the most as a result of all of this. Earlier, Hemant needed Congress to be in power, but now Congress needs Hemant to win the election. If you don’t believe this, try asking Banna Gupta or Purnima Singh this question. However, throughout the past 22 years, Congress has never been closer to power. The party should now completely forget about it. There will only be two perspectives on Jharkhand politics: JMM and BJP. Even Hemant is aware that no local policy will be created using the domicile from 1932. The case will remain unresolved in court, as it did in 2002, and won’t be covered in the ninth schedule. But in politics, Hemant has temporarily prevailed, leaving Babulal to rue the opportunity he missed.
