New Delhi: Disgruntled Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and former chief minister Champai Soren maintained the suspense over his next move when he announced Wednesday that he would not quit politics, while keeping the door open to joining hands with a like-minded party.
“It is a new chapter of my life. I won’t quit politics as I have received lots of love and support from my followers. I had mentioned three options—quitting politics, organisation, or friend. I will not quit politics. The chapter (of quitting politics) has closed, I may form a new outfit,” he said at his ancestral village Jhilingora.
The rebel leader maintained that he was firm on his plans after the humiliation he faced, and added that he might join hands with a like-minded organisation, or a “friend” during his next journey, a point that he previously made in a long post on ‘X’ on 18 August.
“I will strengthen the party, a new party and if I meet a good friend on the way, then I will move ahead with the friend…,” the former Jharkhand chief minister said.
Later in the evening, Champai posted on ‘X’ a nearly 7-minute video of him addressing the people. He reiterated that ‘sanyaas’ (retirement) was not an option for him anymore.
धन्यवाद झारखंड !
इस प्यार, सहयोग एवं समर्थन के लिए।पिछले साढ़े चार दशकों से आम जनता के मुद्दों को लेकर संघर्ष करता रहा हूँ, और आपका आशीर्वाद, जीवन के इस नये अध्याय में, मुझे सही फैसला लेने का हौसला दे रहा है।
फिलहाल जनता से मिल रहा हूं। सन्यास लेना अब विकल्प नहीं है। सभी लोगों… pic.twitter.com/gc71bI1NLb
— Champai Soren (@ChampaiSoren) August 21, 2024
His close aides told ThePrint that Champai is consulting his supporters about his next move. Many of his supporters want him to float a party but a few of them are suggesting that he join an established party, they said, adding a decision was expected in the next few days.
The BJP functionaries ThePrint had spoken to had said that there were two options, either induct him into the party, or use the ‘Jitan Ram Manjhi model’ to induct him into the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
On Sunday, Manjhi, who led a similar revolt against his mentor Nitish Kumar in 2015, called the rebel leader “a tiger”. “Champai da, you were a tiger and will remain a tiger. You are welcomed into the NDA family, Johar tiger,” the Union minister posted on ‘X’. He, however, clarified Monday that this was his personal view.
Many BJP tribal leaders are against aligning directly with Champai as it can “backfire” in an election year, party insiders told ThePrint. Hemant Soren, they said, has already accused the BJP of poaching MLAs and dividing tribals with “bags of money”.
When Champai had rebelled Sunday, a jubilant Bharatiya Janata Party lost no time in hailing him as a “revolutionary”. His importance was apparent as seen in the BJP’s strategy to amplify Champai’s rebellion, emphasising his role as one of the original agitators whose efforts led to the birth of Jharkhand in 2000.
A BJP senior leader was upfront about why the disgruntled JMM leader could be a prized ally in Jharkhand.
“Champai has travelled a long distance before rebellion. He is one of the senior most tribal leaders without any charge of corruption. Known for simplicity, he commands great respect in Santhal region after guruji (JMM patriarch Shibu Soren). He will be an asset in the tribal seats. But the BJP doesn’t want to be seen as being behind him. He has to make the first move; he has to decide whether he will be a part of the BJP, or a part of the NDA,” the senior leader told ThePrint.
A BJP functionary had earlier confirmed that the party weighed all options before making a decision regarding the tribal leader.
“Champai is in discussion with the BJP leadership… The only question the party is pondering on is if it will be more politically beneficial to induct him into the party to strengthen its base in Kolhan region, or push for the second option to back him to float a party like Manjhi did in Bihar,” this functionary explained
“When Hemant Soren was jailed, the party did not benefit from it as the JMM campaigned alleging that a tribal CM was jailed.”
Insiders in the BJP said that Champai had lobbied for poll tickets for his son Babulal Soren from Ghatsila and for Seraikella for himself.
That the BJP was awaiting the surprise move was amply clear when senior leaders such as party state president Babulal Marandi, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is in-charge of Jharkhand, and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey came out to attack the JMM for disrespecting a leader of Champai’s stature.
“The JMM now has become a family-oriented party, and it has humiliated Champai Soren by removing him from the chief minister’s post. There is no place in the JMM for honest leaders like Champai Soren and Lobin Hembram who spend their entire life for the JMM,” Marandi, the state’s first chief minister, said.
In May, the JMM expelled Hembram for six years after he contested the Lok Sabha polls from Rajmahal as an Independent candidate.
Like Marandi, Nishikant Dubey took on the Soren family in support of Champai. “The JMM has now become a party of outsiders and is reduced to a party of Hemant and Kalpana Soren. There will be no surprise if (Dumka MLA) Basant Soren, too, leaves the party,” the Godda MP had said.
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Kolhan region in BJP’s crosshairs
With an eye on Champai, the BJP is looking to make a comeback in Kolhan region where the party could not win a single assembly seat of the total 14 in 2019. Only one seat (Jamshedpur) went to Independent candidate Saryu Rai, who defeated then chief minister Raghubar Das. The remaining seats went to the JMM-Congress combine.
The loss was primarily attributed to the then Raghubar Das-led BJP government’s decision to amend the Chotanagpur and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Acts in 2016. Overall, the BJP won only two of the 28 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Castes (SC) in 2019.
Even in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP lost plot as Hemant Soren’s arrest did not go well with the tribal voters despite the party initially managing traction from the corruption narrative against the Sorens in Jharkhand.
What was more frustrating for the BJP brass was the party drew a blank despite trying every strategy to woo the tribal voters, be it elevating former governor Droupadi Murmu as the President in July 2022, making Babulal Marandi the state unit’s president in July last year, or selecting another tribal leader Vishnu Deo Sai as CM in adjoining Chhattisgarh in December.
“The BJP’s desperation to poach MLAs and sending a tribal CM to jail on corruption charges did not help…. Despite momentum, we lost all tribal seats… Even former chief minister Arjun Munda, tribal face Samir Oran lost in the elections,” a Jharkhand BJP functionary had conceded.
“That is why the BJP wants to weaken the JMM tribal base, but doesn’t want to send a message at the same time that it is engineering defection. It should be seen as a Champai’s revolt against a dynastic family, against his humiliation.”
Popularly known as ‘Kolhan Tiger’, Champai’s influence extends to 14 assembly seats in the Kolhan region. It was none other than JMM patriarch Shibhu Soren, who advised Hemant to hand over the CM’s chair to Champai during the height of the controversy surrounding a corruption case in January.
“Champai’s switch will help BJP in at least in five-six seats like Baharagora, Ghatshila, Ichagarh and Potka. He also has a hold over Aadityapur in Seraikella. He is a prominent Santhal leader and is popular among young tribals due to his simplicity and raising issue of students and youth,” a BJP leader said.
“His exit will bolster our narrative that tribals are humiliated in the JMM, and it’s a party of only one family, thereby helping us to win back tribals from the JMM.”
BJP’s former Jharkhand head Deepak Prakash, too, had taken his party’s line that Champai was humiliated by the JMM. “The JMM was formed on agitation but the irony is that no agitation leader is at the helm of affairs in the government. Hemant Soren was not involved in the agitation. Champai Soren was an agitator but he was humiliated. Others were sidelined,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.
JMM leader Soudya Sonu had sought to downplay the talks that Champai’s exit would impact the party in the assembly elections.
“Champai was a leader of the agitation from which the JMM was born. His exit will impact party ideology but electorally, the JMM will not suffer any dent in Kolhan. It can be seen from the response of MLAs from this region. Nobody wants to go with him into the BJP,” he had said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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