Sorens tumble

Published : May 21, 2010 00:00 IST

Shibu Soren, after taking oath as Chief Minister in Ranchi on December 30.-PTI

Shibu Soren, after taking oath as Chief Minister in Ranchi on December 30.-PTI

THE theatre of the absurd in Jharkhand politics has been revived after a reprieve of four months. This was the clear signal that emerged from the developments in the State as well as in New Delhi in the last week of April. During this period, the mainstream political class of the State as a whole, primarily led by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Chief Minister Shibu Soren, indulged in a series of political twists, turns and somersaults, reaffirming the view that it consisted essentially of self-serving individuals and groups who had no commitment to political ideologies or norms of governance. Political credibility became the biggest casualty, in the event.

Central to the developments were cracks in the four-month-old ruling coalition of the JMM and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These were caused by the April 27 voting in the Lok Sabha on the cut motions moved by the opposition parties, including the BJP, against the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. The BJP wanted to muster as many votes as possible against the government and thus proceeded to invite Soren to join its strategy.

Soren, still the JMM Member of Parliament from the Dumka constituency (he is yet to become a Member of the Legislative Assembly), responded to the invitation and arrived along with his son to take part in the proceedings. However, when it was time for the voting, he shocked his alliance partner by supporting the UPA government.

The BJP took serious note of this betrayal and announced withdrawal of support to the Soren-led Jharkhand government. Thus began the crisis for the seventh Chief Minister of the nine-year-old State.

Opposition party leaders in the State and several supporters of the JMM said the reason for Sorens turnaround in the voting related to another crisis in his life. According to BJP leader and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda, it had to do with the Kudco murder case in which Soren is an accused.

The case dates back to April 15, 1974, when Chundi Singh and Khirodhar Singh of Kudco village in Giridih were killed in a group clash after they allegedly stole and killed some goats. A charge sheet filed by the police on December 14, 1978, names 10 persons and one of the accused is Soren. The case witnessed some amazing twists and turns in the last fortnight.

The judgment in the 36-year-old case was scheduled to be delivered on April 17 in the Giridih Additional District and Sessions Court. However, on April 13, the Giridih Additional District Judge, N.N. Singh, sent a letter to District and Sessions Judge Sanjay Prasad seeking transfer of the case to some other court. I have reasons to make this submission, N.N. Singh stated in his letter. Sanjay Prasad promptly accepted his plea and transferred the case to the court of Mohammed Kasim.

What this means is that the entire process of presenting evidence and statements, with the option of further examination and cross-examination of witnesses, will have to take place in the court of Kasim. If the track record of the original case is anything to go by, this process would take a sufficiently long time. To start with, there were 19 witnesses in the case, including three assistant sub inspectors (ASIs). Nine witnesses have died in the intervening period. Another five, including the ASIs and the doctor who conducted the post-mortem, could not be traced.

Munda says that there are no prizes for guessing who stands to gain from all this delay. Somebody was obviously blackmailing him using this case and he in turn was in need of some reprieve. He got that reprieve and this answers Sorens choice of the red slip in the cut motion.

Other BJP leaders of Jharkhand added that Soren was finding it difficult to get an MLA to vacate a seat for him so that he could fulfil the constitutional obligation of becoming an MLA within six months of becoming the Chief Minister. This is seen as another reason for his rejection of the BJPs plea in the Lok Sabha.

However, what added to the absurd political situation was the JMMs response to the BJPs withdrawal of support and the reactions that the JMMs own response evoked from other political parties, including the Congress. Soren, and later his son, contended that the vote in favour of the UPA had been cast by mistake. The ostensible reason for this was that Soren suffered from Alzheimers disease. The BJP first rejected the argument as unacceptable, but later made some amends when the JMM leadership suggested that it was even ready to relieve Soren of the chief ministership. At the time of writing this, the BJP was actively considering this proposal. Whether this would find favour with all sections of the BJP and whether it would help sustain the alliance is to be seen.

The Congress, the other main party in the State, was not to be left behind in this theatre of the absurd. Immediately after the BJPs announcement of withdrawal of support to the government, Keshav Rao, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) member in charge of Jharkhand, suggested that a new equation was emerging in the State politics with a not-so-cryptic statement that there is no untouchable in politics.

A possible new formula started doing the rounds immediately thereafter in Ranchis political circles. This envisioned the coming together of the JMM, the Congress, the Babulal Marandi-led Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) and the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) to form a new government.

In the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, the JMM and the BJP have 18 members each, the Congress has 14 and the JVM (Prajatantrik) 11. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the AJSU have five MLAs each and the Janata Dal (United) has two. Seven seats are held by local parties and independents. The JMM, the Congress and the JVM (P) together can rustle up a simple majority. The proposed contours of such a Ministry presented JVM (P) leader Babulal Marandi as Chief Minister, as the Congress does not have an acceptable tribal face, with the posts of Deputy Chief Ministers going to the Congress and the JMM.

However, this was not to be, as five JMM legislators Simon Marandi, Teklal Mahato, Nalin Soren, Champai Soren and Lobin Hembrom raised the banner of revolt against Sorens cross-voting. They criticised Soren for changing colour like a chameleon and said that they would not accept his decision. This reined in the Congress from jumping into any arrangement. By all indications, the UPA leadership at the Centre has come around to the view that another stint of Presidents Rule in Jharkhand would be very much in the interests of the party. Meanwhile, a section of the JMM, led by a former tribal MP, is seriously trying to lead the five rebel MLAs and some others to the Congress fold so that the Congress can take the Chief Ministers post.

Clearly, the political games are not over. Whatever their net result, the developments have once again affirmed the impression that Shibu Sorens rule is always short-lived. This is the third time that he became Chief Minister, and he is third time unlucky. He first became Chief Minister in March 2005, but that tenure lasted barely 10 days. He was not able to prove his majority in the Assembly after Governor Syed Sibte Rizvi invited him to form the Ministry.

Following this, the BJPs Arjun Munda came to power showing a majority by winning over a number of independent MLAs to his side and giving all of them ministerial berths. This government lasted for a year and a half, until the very same group of MLAs Madhu Koda, Enos Ekka, Harinarain Rai, Joba Manjhi and the Nationalist Congress Partys Kamlesh Singh toppled it. This led to the elevation of Madhu Koda as Chief Minister with the support of the JMM. Kodas rule lasted nearly two years. But in August 2008 Shibu Soren forced him to quit and became Chief Minister again. Four months later, he had to make an ignominious exit as he was defeated in the byelection to the Tamar constituency.

Soren had contested the byelection to fulfil the constitutional obligation of becoming an MLA. There was a time when Soren was the most popular leader of Jharkhand and was widely referred to as Dishom Guru (Great Leader). Obviously the great leader has fallen from his pedestal. In a sense, that fall symbolises the fall of Jharkhand politics as a whole.

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