These words were posted by Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on social media just two hours before taking oath as the 14th chief minister of the state in Ranchi on November 28, 2024. The essence of his words was a target on the Opposition and the feeling of overwhelming majority, tribalism, Jharkhandism and unity.

Over the 24 years since Jharkhand’s formation, there have been various political experiments. Governments have fallen and President’s Rule has been imposed several times. The state has been a subject of national discussion due to allegations of corruption and the government’s instability. However, the government that has been formed under Soren is considered to be the strongest.

Soren hopes to avoid the instability seen by previous governments, but his biggest challenge will be fulfilling the promises and unfinished tasks from his previous term. One of them is converting the bills, now with the Governor, into law. These bills were central to the electoral campaign of his party, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), and helped strike a chord with a large section of the electorate.

Political analyst Anand Kumar believes that there is a problem in all three bills. “Will all tribals in the country unite on the Sarna Dharma Code? Firstly, tribals follow many religions and a majority of tribals who believe in Sarna are mostly from Jharkhand. Secondly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Sangh consider Sarna and Sanatana to be the same. In such a situation, they would not want the tribals to get a different religion code in the name of Sarna,” he says.

A similar controversy confronts the 1932 Khatiyan Bill. After the formation of Jharkhand, when the first chief minister of the state and BJP leader, Babulal Marandi, tried to include third and fourth-grade jobs in the bill, the Jharkhand High Court struck it down. On the other hand, in the tribal-dominated Kolhan region of Jharkhand, the tribals are opposing this. The last survey in Kolhan is not of 1932, but of 1964-65. According to this, the Khatiyan Bill of 1932 cannot be implemented here.

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister and BJP leader Madhu Koda hails from Kolhan and is among the people who have expressed their objection to the implementation of the bill in Kolhan. “I have never opposed domicile, but the 1932 Khatiyan Bill passed by the government is neither practical nor constitutional. There are many legal hurdles. If it is implemented, many people of the state will be deprived of their domicile. If you take the example of Kolhan, the last survey was in 1964. The 1932 Khatiyan Bill was not introduced keeping the long-term interests in mind. Instead, this bill was introduced in a hurry for vote politics without taking the opinion of the stakeholders. Implementing it without amendment is not in the interest of the state,” says Koda.

Koda’s opinion on the Sarna Dharma Code is the same as the 1932 Khatiyan Bill. He says that before bringing both the bills, the government should have convened an all-party meeting to take all tribals in the country into confidence. But it did not happen. According to Koda, Soren and his party have brought this only as a political agenda.

Bandhu Tirkey, a former minister in the Jharkhand government and a Congress leader, also believes that the state government should reconsider these bills. He says, “There is a contradiction in the 1932 Khatiyan Bill. A team of experts should be formed to consider all the places where the last survey was conducted, so that we can find a way to implement it. And it should be executed within a time frame.”

Tirkey says that such a way should be found on domicile issues so that no injustice is done to anyone. He also demands that the Sarna Dharma Code is a serious issue related to tribal identity, so the Union government and the President should consider it.

On the reservation issue, the Supreme Court’s decision in the Indra Sawhney case of 1993 can be an obstacle in the reservation bill, in which it has been said that not more than 50 per cent reservation should be given. The bill brought by Soren has a provision of 77 per cent reservation. Kumar says that there are immense legal hurdles to implement these bills and it seems that Soren’s government has used it merely as a political tool.

Voters Influenced by Key Issues

Analysing the results of the assembly polls, in the last election, the ruling alliance had secured 47 seats—the JMM won 30, the Congress 16 and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) 1 seat—while this time, the alliance won 56 seats—the JMM 34, the Congress 16, the RJD 4 and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist or CPI-ML) 2 seats—an increase of 11 per cent in seats over five years.

In a state where governments have often been unstable, the increase in the number of seats can largely be attributed to the legislative bills mentioned above.

For instance, the Sarna Dharma Code and the 1932 Khatiyan Bill were issues that the previous governments had been ambiguous about. When Soren came to power in 2019, he made historic decisions. On November 11, 2020, the Sarna Code Bill was passed by the Jharkhand Assembly. Two years later, on November 11, 2022, a proposal for the 1932 Khatiyan Bill to determine the eligibility of the local residents was also passed. In addition, the government also introduced a bill to increase reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Scheduled Castes (SCs) groups. While the ST and SC reservations saw a partial increase, the OBC reservation was raised from 14 per cent to 27 per cent.

Political analysts consider these three decisions to have had significant political and electoral benefits. An analysis of results from the 14 Lok Sabha and 81 assembly seats reveals that the Sarna Code proposal had a direct impact on the 42 lakh Sarna followers, who are a tribal group. The 1932 Khatiyan Bill affected the state’s indigenous population politically, and it benefited the JMM-led INDIA bloc. The OBC reservation bill also helped the coalition make inroads into the backward sections of society that comprise 55 per cent of the state’s population.

The BJP had won 12 seats in 2014 and 2019 parliamentary polls, but lost three in 2024. All of these seats are reserved for tribals. Notably, the results in the Khunti and Lohardaga assembly segments were surprising. Between 1989 and 2019, the BJP had won these constituencies in nine general elections, including eight times in Khunti and six times in Lohardaga.

Similarly, the JMM alliance secured victories in 27 out of the 28 reserved assembly seats for tribals, including both seats in Khunti, which were earlier held by the BJP.

According to statistics, the Sarna followers, primarily the Oraon and Munda tribes, are concentrated in regions like Khunti and Gumla. These areas, with seats reserved for tribals, saw victories for Soren’s alliance.

Challenges with PESA and Land Bank

The Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), 1996, and the Land Bank were key issues Soren raised during the 2019 assembly election. He frequently targeted the BJP government led by Raghubar Das on these issues.

To understand why the Land Bank became a key electoral issue, it is important to look at the amendments to the Land Acquisition Act, 2013. In 2015, the Narendra Modi government tried to amend the Act’s provisions. In 2017, the then Chief Minister Das introduced similar amendments. The tribal community strongly opposed these changes—both on the streets as well as on the floor of the House.

The revised provisions diluted the powers of the Gram Sabha, thereby removing social impact assessments required before land acquisition for any project. A Land Bank was created to include land for corporate use, and approximately 21 lakh acres of land were added to it. The Opposition claimed that much of the land included was used by tribal and indigenous communities.

The tribal community vehemently opposed the Land Bank, and Soren, as a Leader of Opposition, vowed to abolish it if he came to power. However, in his previous term, he could neither abolish the Land Bank nor frame the rules for PESA.

Activist Vineet Mundu, associated with the Adivasi Swashashan Adhikar Manch (ASAM), says that Soren was not serious on issues of Jal, Jungle, Zameen during his last five years in power. “Soren and his party did not take any step in the direction of cancelling the Land Bank as they had talked about while being in the Opposition. The rules of PESA were ready, but they have not been implemented yet. It seems that there is pressure from the corporate lobby on Soren’s government.”

Mundu further says that when the rules are implemented, the acquisition of state land and the rights over minor minerals will be under the Gram Sabha. In such a situation, it will be very difficult to make this land available for the corporate lobby. “In this regard, cancelling the land bank and implementing the PESA law is also becoming difficult for Soren,” says Mundu.

Despite these complexities, the JMM believes that Soren will manage to resolve all these issues in the coming five years. JMM General Secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya states that since no legal action can be taken on the bills pending with the Governor, the government will apply pressure to push them forward so they can become laws. He also says that the rules for PESA will soon be finalised, and the Land Bank will be abolished.

(Translated by Tarique Anwar)

(This appeared in the print as 'Delivery Time')