VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, May 7: ‘If Samri Lal can go then why not Sita Soren’, is likely to become a new battle cry of Jharkhand BJP against Chief Minister Hemant Soren, his party the JMM. The BJP is exploring possibilities whether or not the election of Sita Soren from Jama assembly seat can be contested.
Hemant Soren and his MLA brother Basant Soren are already facing problems and the Election Commission of India has issued a notice to them in the matter related to the office-of-profit.
Sita Soren is the daughter-in-law of the JMM patriarch Shibu Soren and the widow of Durga Soren. The family enjoys the status of the first political family of Jharkhand. She thrice retained Jama assembly seat, reserved for tribals, as a JMM candidate. A tribal she originally belongs to Odisha. The BJP believes that under the existing law of Jharkhand she can’t contest from a reserved seat. The BJP said that under the law, a person from the reserved category but not a native of the state will be treated at par with the general category.
It is a matter of legal debate whether or not the caste of a woman is governed by the caste of her husband at her in-law’s place. But during the ongoing Panchayat elections, several such cases have been seen where women from other states married in Jharkhand have not been allowed to contest from the reserved seat. It is despite the fact the caste they belong to is notified as a reserved category in Jharkhand as well as their paternal state.
Social activist Taramani Sahu, originally from Odisha and married in Simdega said that she was not allowed to file nomination papers to contest from a reserved seat. “I was told that since I originally belong to Odisha hence, I am not qualified to contest from a reserved seat. They were referring to a judgment of the Supreme Court,” she said. Sahus are notified as Scheduled Tribe in Odisha and OBC in Jharkhand. A tribal woman Mala from Chaibasa was stopped on the same ground.
Tribal activist and former member of Tribal Advisory Council (TAC), Ratan Tirkey recollects one of the decisions taken by the TAC regarding the status of non-Jharkhandi tribal women in Jharkhand who are married in Jharkhand. “A decision was taken that a non-Jharkhandi tribal woman married to a tribal or non-tribal of Jharkhand can’t be allowed to avail the benefit of caste reservation in Jharkhand to get government job and other facilities. Their caste certificate must not be issued from any district of Jharkhand. They will be governed by the caste certificate from their father’s side,” said Ratan Tirkey.
On being contacted the secretary of the Department of Personnel Vandana Dadel said that the rule regarding who can be issued the caste certificate is very clear. The BJP believes that the interpretation of the law is very clear and this can be the ground to challenge the election of Sita Soren.
“The JMM and the Congress are determined for the termination of the membership of the BJP legislator Samri Lal on the ground that he can’t avail the facility of reservation in Jharkhand as he originally belongs to Rajasthan. Sita Soren has a similar case,” said a BJP insider.
Notably, the State Scrutiny Committee of the state government canceled his caste certificate issued on October 31, 2009. The committee observed that his father, Mishri Lal Balmiki, migrated to Jharkhand (part of undivided Bihar) from Rajasthan for livelihood and he does not deserve a reservation facility in the state. Samri Lal contended that in the year 1956 in the unified Bihar the caste to which he belongs was included in the list of SC while on April 1, without any witnesses and solid evidence rejected his caste certificate.
