With their malicious design to engage Bihar chief minister, Nitish Kumar in a psychological war proving to be absolutely ineffective, the Narendra Modi and Amit Shah combine has tossed a new type of conceptual war against Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren. While the duo failed to muster courage to direct their parrot to swoop on Nitish and put him in jail, the ED is already gearing up to arrest Hemant Soren.
Earlier, Modi and Shah had planned to carry out ‘Operation Lotus’ in the state, but a firm posture of CM Soren forced them to alter their strategy. The duo is now working on a plan to stage a coup. Just after the ED arrests Soren on the charge of not responding to its seventh summon, the BJP leaders would arrest a couple of his close aides and bring about a split in the INDIA bloc in Jharkhand.
In fact, this plan of Modi and Shah has been leaked. On January 2 evening, the senior Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Rajya Sabha member Manoj Jha cautioned the opposition leaders of the designs of the ED and CBI. He conveyed to the INDIA bloc leaders that central investigation agencies would be hyperactive till January 22 — the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Ram temple at Ayodhya — and expressed apprehension that “anything could happen” to Opposition.
Jha pointed out that Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and other Opposition leaders could be targeted by the agencies. Jha also revealed that people working in these agencies have alerted them to files being sent to their offices from the BJP headquarters. He said anything could happen to them anytime. “They want to make the Opposition afraid, keep it entangled for the next four months,” said Jha. Tejashwi and Lalu had skipped their ED summons on December 22 and 27, respectively, in the alleged land-for-jobs scam in the railways. While the former has been summoned again on January 5, the latter could also be called again.
Obviously, with this plan getting leaked, Hemant Soren has taken pre-emptive measures and one of these has been the plan to find his replacement, so that the game of poaching of Modi-Shah does not fructify in the state. Although at the same time, he affirmed that he would continue to be office for full term and there was no move to install his wife Kalpana as his successor. He said that the top BJP leaders with ulterior intentions were floating a rumour.
Numerically, Jharkhand with 14 Lok Sabha seats cannot be claimed to a major politically important state, but the threat of losing these seats is staring at the face of Modi and Shah. Under Hemant Soren, they cannot expect to win more than 2 or 3 seats. The reason is after a long time, the tribal people of Jharkhand have got a leader who speaks their language and that is too significant for them. During his rule, the adivasis of the state have undergone major psychological transformation.
The consistent denial of Hemant Soren not to call on the ED or CBI officials’ response to their summons has simply acted as morale booster for the adivasis. They can now dare to challenge the diktats of the outsiders. It is under Soren’s government that they have started raising the issue of their own identity and recognition of Sarna as their independent festival, separate from Hindutva.
Hemant Soren has termed the seventh summons of the ED to him as “baseless, biased”. A special messenger from the chief minister’s secretariat on Tuesday afternoon handed over a sealed letter to the Ranchi zonal office of the ED. Sources nevertheless make it clear that Hemant will not appear before the ED officials. He in fact in his letter has criticised the ED: “The letter claims that the ED investigation is not ‘grounded in pursuit of truth’ but rather is a targeted ploy against him. He also expressed his displeasure with the alleged media trial orchestrated by the agency, suggesting that its objective is to tarnish his image and discredit his work in the political arena”.
Soren is absolutely clear that this seventh summon is not the last. He will have to face many such ordeals, which is why he has cautioned his colleagues and other opposition leaders: “The year 2024 is going to be a year of great political upheavals – both in Jharkhand and the nation. They are not in power in Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha. They are in power in a few states after recent elections. But after the mahasangram of 2014, they will be wiped out completely.” According to Soren the fear of losing power has turned them desperate and in such a situation they can do anything, even if it is illegal.
The major reason for destabilising Hemant Soren’s government owes to their perception that with Soren in power in Jharkhand, the BJP would not succeed in its mission to win over the tribal population even in other states. Though the adivasis of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh voted for the BJP in the recent assembly elections, the BJP leaders are sure that this does not underline shift in their allegiance from Congress. This pattern may not be repeated in 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Soren has cautioned the tribal people: “The forces who have never acknowledged or accepted tribals as Adivasi have named them as Vanvasi. What’s this Vanvasi? These forces have deceived us tribals for the past 20 years. Tribal youths need to be alert and awake. Tribals ought to be united and speak in one voice.”
BJP has been trying to project resignation of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MLA Sarfaraz Ahmad from his Gandey seat as the symbol of Hemant conceding defeat, nonetheless senior leaders describe it as a pre-emptive step. He does not want to be caught in mess. He is ready with his strategy. True enough, his step has unnerved the BJP as they feel that this move of Modi-Shah instead of weakening Soren would catapult him as the hero of the Tribals.
Even the academics and intellectuals of Jharkhand assert that Modi-Shah, precisely the RSS leadership, would not tolerate an Adivasi ruling Jharkhand. They will accept and tolerate a non-Adivasi as the chief minister, but not an Adivasi. They point out Adivasi leaders Babulal Marandi, Arjun Munda, belonging to BJP were not treated well by the leadership. On the contrary, Raghubar Das, who was earlier chief minister, enjoyed full support. The reason is the leadership nurse the feeling that under the tribal leaders the non-tribals, especially the upper caste people who migrated from Arah, Balia, Chapra and adjoining areas of eastern Uttar Pradesh, would not have complete control on the economy of the state.
ED is determined to take stringent action, even going to the extent of putting him in jail is manifest in its warning to Hemant Soren. As he did not turn up to the ED’s six earlier summons, the agency this time in its summon has mentioned that it is his last opportunity to record the statement under section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. Besides indulging in psychological war, it has been carrying out raids at multiple locations across three states, including the residence of Abhishek Prasad, media advisor to Hemant, Ramniwas Yadav, an IAS officer and current deputy commissioner of Sahebganj district. The JMM leaders describe this action as an attempt to break the morale of bureaucrats and make them toe Modi-Shah’s line.
In a significant political move, Hemant has decided to attend the idol consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22 if invited. He nevertheless said that he does not want to play the BJP’s game. His aides say: “Soren has been able to instil in everyone’s mind that he welcomes all religions and that people have the right to practise their faith without any fear, as any head of the state should, unlike the BJP.” (IPA Service)
The post Soren Checkmates Modi-Shah’s Design To Dislodge Him From Office first appeared on Latest India news, analysis and reports on IPA Newspack.
