‘Ghar Ghar Raghubar’ fails to strike a chord with electorate

Still worse, Das, who has won from the Jamshedpur East constituency five times in a row, lost -- to his former cabinet colleague Saryu Roy who contested as an independent.

Raghubar Das, the first Jharkhand chief minister (CM) to complete a full five-year term leading a majority government, and also the state’s first non-tribal CM, led the Bharatiya Janata Party to a defeat in the assembly polls, with the party winning just 25 seats in the 81-member assembly. Still worse, Das, who has won from the Jamshedpur East constituency five times in a row, lost -- to his former cabinet colleague Saryu Roy who contested as an independent.

BJP’s Raghubar Das a candidate of Jamshedpur East assembly constituency campaiging for election on bike in Jamshedpur . (Photo: Manoj Kumar/ Hindustan Times)

“I welcome the mandate. I thank 32.5 million people of the state. I tried to serve the people honestly and take development to all corners of the state,” Das told reporters at his Ranchi residence.

He accepted the BJP’s loss as his own but defended his government’s record. “I tried to bring in development for all (Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas) as per the mandate we got in 2014.”

Before becoming chief minister of the state in 2014, Das served as minister in the Babulal Marandi and Arjun Munda Cabinets. In 2009, when JMM supremo Sibu Soren became the chief minister with the BJP’s support, Das was appointed deputy chief minister.

Das is also a past president (twice) of the state BJP unit; the party contested the 2009 assembly and Lok Sabha elections under his leadership. His rise to the top post in 2014 was made easier by former CM Arjun Munda’s loss from his home constituency Kharsawan.

This year, the party doubled down on its decision. Das was given the task of leading it into the election with the slogan “ghar ghar Raghubar” (Raghubar in every home). Midway through the campaign, however, the BJP realised this wasn’t working. It started seeking votes in the name of both Das and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and focused on national issues.

Das also played an important role in ticket selection. He kept Roy waiting till two days before the deadline for nominations, and thn dumped him. Roy then announced his candidature against Das.

The BJP candidates – reportedly handpicked by Raghubar Das himself -- in the 14 assembly seats in his home district East Singhbhum and neighbouring Seraikela-Kharsawan and West Singhbhum – lost all seats.

In Jamshedpur West, Roy’s erstwhile seat, the Congress’ Banna Gupta defeated Das’s last minute choice as BJP candidate, Devendra Singh, by 22, 768 votes.