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Why Babulal Marandi’s comeback is important for BJP
The growing schism between the tribal communities and the BJP has also been flagged by the party’s ideological mentor, the RSS.
Fourteen years after he quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jharkhand strong man Babulal Maranadi in a grand show of homecoming will announce a formal merger of his Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) with the BJP on Monday.
The homecoming of the former Jharkhand chief minister comes soon after the BJP faced a drubbing in the assembly elections held in December, and is making concerted attempts to build bridges with the tribal communities in the state.
The lack of a recognisable tribal face in Jharkhand was identified as one of the prime reasons for the party’s defeat in the assembly polls, which was exacerbated by the incumbent chief minister Raghubar Das failing to retain his seat.
The BJP has been assiduously wooing the tribal communities in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. However it’s efforts have failed to reap rewards, because the party does not have strong leadership among the tribals communities, even though it included tribal faces such as Arjun Munda in the current Union cabinet. In the last cabinet, Jual Oram from Odisha was the party’s tribal face.
The growing schism between the tribal communities and the BJP has also been flagged by the party’s ideological mentor, the RSS.
After the party lost elections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the RSS had identified a vacuum in the leadership as a reason for the party’s poor show, especially in states where it was in power for decades.
The BJP and the RSS are confronted with issues such as subsuming the tribal identity within the larger Hindu fold, land rights for tribal communities.
With Marandi back in the party fold, the BJP is hopeful of strengthening its tribal outreach.
The merger will take place in the presence of the BJP top brass including party president JP Nadda, former president Amit Shah and hundreds of party workers from across the state.
A former Sangh pracharak, Marandi rose to prominence in the BJP after defeating another tribal leader and JMM strongman Shibu Soren in 1998 and his wife Rupa Soren in 1999 from the Dumka parliamentary constituency. He was given charge as the minister for environment and forests in the Atal Bihar Vajpayee cabinet and later became the chief minister, a position he held till 2003.
His return to the BJP is anticipated to earn him a bigger role in the state unit. There is speculation that he could even be the state unit president.
“He has been a vice president of the BJP, he has helped build the party cadre in the state, so it is obvious that we will continue to hold a key position and be involved in decision making. His return to the party comes at a time when the party has to regain lost ground; the merger will be beneficial for both the party as well as Marandi and his JVK,” said a BJP functionary on condition of anonymity.
