The INDIA bloc is simply waiting for the election commission to release the Lok Sabha polls notification after which it would make public its list of the candidates. What has been most significant achievement for the INDIA bloc is, the seat sharing was formalised with wider consensus among alliance partners in Jharkhand. The JMM and the Congress, the two main partners carried out talks successfully.

Of course the major beneficiary would be the Congress. On its part JMM would be mainly focussing on the Adivasi belts. This has strategic reason. The RSS has been working in the tribal areas for decades. It has been running schools, dispensaries and charitable agencies. The RSS intends to use these forums for garnering Adivasi votes for the BJP as the 2024 Lok Sabha election has acquired the dimension of life and death for BJP

Jharkhand Congress Coordination Committee at a meeting held only two days back expressed satisfaction with the seat sharing and preparations for the electoral battle. Former union minister Subodh Kant Sahay said "We plan to have only one candidate on every seat so that voters do not get confused, and the same model would be implemented in the state". Jharkhand Congress chief Rajesh Thakur also expressed confidence of securing victory; "We are going to win most of the seats in Jharkhand. Lok Sabha election is approaching and we are making preparations. Meetings of the coordination committees are being held.” The RJD and CPI(ML) would be contesting one seat each.

Nevertheless, the B JP is facing a tough challenge from INDIA bloc. The main electoral battle would take place in the Adivasi belts of the state, where the RSS has high stakes. While the RSS is striving to maintain its grip on the adivasis , the JMM is desperate to banish it from the region as RSS has been rallying force for corporate and big business houses and anti-adivasi political forces.

In case the BJP loses the support of the adivasis, in that backdrop it would be forced to wind up its operation to a great extent in the adivasi zone. After Raghubar Das was sworn in as the 6th chief minister of Jharkhand on 28 December 2014 the RSS had launched intensive campaign to convert Adivasi to Hindu. It has even launched the scheme of Ghar Wapasi of Adivasi Christians. Sangh also demanded de-listing Christian converts from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category. On December 24 last year , an RSS affiliate organised a “de-listing rally” to demand that reservation benefits not be provided to tribals who converted.

In 2021 Hemant Soren challenged the RSS stand by asserting that Adivasis were never Hindus and that tribals had a separate religious identity called Sarna. Soren has written to the Centre this year too to seek a separate religious code for tribals. As the chief minister Soren consistently has been striving to foil the RSS move. With Hemant in jail, RSS is desperate to retrieve its ground and give a concrete shape to its plan to convert adivasis.

The challenge before JMM is really gruelling. Of the five seats reserved for ST, three are with BJP. In the prevailing scenario it is the prime task for the JMM to win away these seats. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and its ally, the All Jharkhand Students Union had won 12 out of the 14 parliamentary seats while the Geeta Koda of Congress had won Singhbhum. Recently Geeta switched over to BJP. She is the wife of Madhu Koda involved in a multi crore scam.

The task before JMM was underlined by Kalpana Soren, wife of Hemant on the occasion of the 51st foundation day of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). This was for the first time she stepped into the political arena. With tears rolling down she said; I'm standing here with a heavy heart. They (Centre) hatched such a big conspiracy due to which Hemant Soren had to go to jail. In the future, we must demonstrate through our votes that 'Jharkhand Jhukega Nahi' (Jharkhand will not bow)…They have played with self-respect of every people of Jharkhand by putting him in jail. Befitting reply will be given to them in coming days".

Emphasising on Jharkhandi pride, Kalpana urged people to stay united and be prepared to give a befitting reply to the opposition through votes. “By arresting him, they have put the self-respect and pride of the state in jail. You would get a befitting reply. Jharkhand would give a befitting reply”.

Meanwhile, Loktantra Bachao Abhiyan, a coalition of rights outfits and social activists has urged INDIA bloc leaders in the state to promptly announce seat-sharing arrangements and candidate nominations. (IPA Service)