Ranchi, 23 November (IANS). ‘Same slogan, Hemant again’ – this slogan given by JMM in Jharkhand assembly elections has now come true. The alliance of four parties led by Hemant Soren has made two historical records in the power politics of Jharkhand. The first is that in the 24-year history of Jharkhand, the government of any party or coalition had never been repeated for the second term. The second record is that till date no alliance had won more than 50 seats simultaneously.
According to the official data of the Election Commission till 5 pm on Saturday, the JMM-Congress-RJD-CPI-ML alliance was close to winning about 55 seats in the 81-member assembly. In this record victory, Hemant Soren government’s ‘Maiyan Samman Yojana’ is being considered as the biggest game changer. This scheme was launched in August. Under this, an amount of Rs 1,000 each is being sent every month to the accounts of 57 lakh women between the age of 18 to 50 years. The scheme became extremely popular and the ‘Maiyan’ (sisters) of Jharkhand enriched the Hemant Soren led government with votes in exchange for this amount of Rs 1,000.
Women voted in greater numbers than men in 68 out of 81 assembly seats in the state. A total of 1 crore 76 lakh 81 thousand seven (1,76,81,007) people exercised their franchise in this election. Among these, the number of women voters was 5 lakh 51 thousand 797 (5,51,797) more than that of men. This number of women voters confirms the magic that ‘Maiyan Samman Yojana’ has done in this election.
Hemant Soren was also aware of this ‘magic’. After the last round of voting on November 20, special gratitude was expressed to ‘Maiyayan’ on social media. He had written, ‘Elders, youth, workers, women, farmers – everyone gave their unprecedented blessings in this great festival of democracy with enthusiasm and enthusiasm. Everyone, especially half of the state’s population – our mothers, have historically given their immense blessings to JMM and India alliance for their rights, honor and respect.
Apart from this, decisions like waiving the bills of about 37 lakh electricity defaulters and loan waiver of farmers up to Rs 2 lakh also had a significant impact. People of rural areas were benefited the most by these decisions and the result was that this time a record of highest ever voting was made in the villages.
In this script of Hemant Soren’s return to power, his wife Kalpana Soren proved to be a very important character. As a star campaigner of the ruling alliance, he held maximum number of 105 election meetings. His style of communicating directly with people was greatly appreciated. She is the first leader of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, who had tremendous appeal even in urban areas. Otherwise, JMM has previously been seen as a village party.
In January this year, after Hemant Soren went to jail, Kalpana entered politics and within no time she became famous like a comet. People consider him the ‘origin of disaster’ in politics. The natural anger that had arisen among the tribals due to Hemant Soren going to jail, its effect remained intact in this election after the Lok Sabha elections. It failed to integrate the section of tribals that had fled from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
In this election, BJP raised the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration in Santhal Pargana of Jharkhand most prominently, but the defeat it faced on the seats reserved for tribals clearly shows that this issue could not prove to be effective at the ground level.
Political experts believe that in this election, BJP’s handing over the entire command of the election campaign to leaders from outside the state like Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Shivraj Singh Chauhan was also a big strategic mistake of the party. The people of Jharkhand saw the entire election battle as ‘Hemant versus Himanta’. He in a way rejected Himanta Biswa Sarma by calling him an external leader.
–IANS
SNC/CBT
