RANCHI: For long, political parties in Jharkhand have known that tribal seats hold the key to government formation.
Due to this, the two prominent political parties — BJP and JMM have always tried to bag more tribal seats by taking up their issues.
The BJP government has laid special focus on the tribal vote bank in the last five years, which traditionally belongs to JMM, by luring them with different schemes and programmes.
The BJP even appointed Ramvichar Netam as co-in-charge of Jharkhand BJP and a Droupadi Murmu as Jharkhand Governor to give a positive message about the party among the tribals.
There are 28 tribal seats in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly.
Political experts, however, feel that tribal MLAs have not been able to show their significance due to lack of coordination and have remained divided as they have not been able to overcome the regional and community barriers among themselves.
“Since 28 is a significant figure in the 81-member Assembly, tribals play an important role in Jharkhand politics and that’s why the BJP has been trying to placate the tribals in Kolhan and Santhal putting a special focus on these seats,” said Jitendra Kumar, a political analyst. He felt that it would be suicidal for JMM if BJP succeeds in making a dent in any of its seats in the tribal areas.
In 2014, JMM had won 13 tribal seats as against 11 by BJP while in 2009 and 2005 it had won 10 seats while the BJP had to be satisfied with only nine seats. BJP leaders claimed that since the party has done a lot for the tribals, they must get support from the community the upcoming elections.
JMM leaders, on the other hand, said that BJP will not be able to open its account in any of the tribal seats in the state.
“JMM’s ideology is based on the issue of adiwasi-moolwasi people of the state, there is no doubt that we will get their support,” said JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya. There is a sense of anger against the BJP among the people of the state, said Bhattacharya.