Policy disputes, leadership tussles and ambitions, public pressure, maneuvering by a bigger party are just some reasons why political parties in India split. The practice is old but still very common. The grand-old Congress Party, for instance, has split dozens of times since independence and has numerous breakaway factions. In the recent years too, some big and popular regional parties have bore the brunt of splits or big leaders leaving the party with their cadre – like the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party, Trinamool Congress, Lok Janshakti Party, etc.
The latest party in the news for this same reason is the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). A political split might just be brewing in the party that led the statehood-movement for the eastern state, with one of its top-most leader and former CM dropping hints of dissatisfaction and joining the BJP.
The JMM founded in 1972 by Binod Bihari Mahato, is currently the ruling party in Jharkhand, but has been in news recently for all the wrong reasons. Party supremo and Chief Minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on 31 January 2024 in a land scam case. He alleged that the move was vindictive and a misuse of central agencies by the BJP-led central government, to arrest and target all big opposition leaders. He was released on bail at the end of June by the state High Court.
But in his absence, for about 5 months, 67-year-old Champai Soren took over as the Chief Minister. A tribal leader from humble backgrounds, Soren is a 7-time MLA and served as Cabinet Minister of Transport, Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Caste & Backward class welfare in the Hemant Soren ministry from 2019. He is popularly known as Jharkhand’s tiger for his momentous role in the state movement. He had to step down after Hemant Soren was released on bail and became CM again.
Champai Soren is back in the news again, as the state’s assembly elections approach soon. He has been rumoured to be dissatisfied and for the last two days the media is abuzz with reports that he might be joining the BJP. He arrived in Delhi today morning fuelling speculations as he is expected to meet top BJP leaders. However, the leader maintained that he was in the capital for “personal work.”
But in the evening, Champai Soren finally broke his silence and took to his official X account. He narrated how he felt insulted in the party when he was asked to step down disrespectfully after Hemant Soren’s release. His scheduled meetings were cancelled without explanation, and there was a time he was “broken from within.”
The former CM maintained that he has no greed for power, but his self-respect was tarnished. He stated, “After so much insult and contempt, I was forced to look for an alternative path” and in the end listed his three options – to retire from politics, to form his own organization or to find a companion on this path, and clarified that all three of them are open till the upcoming assembly elections. Thus, now while his future is uncertain, the post makes it clear that he will quit the JMM.
Hemant Soren, on the other hand, targeted the BJP for staging this coup on his party and stated, “they not only break society but also break homes and parties.”
With the next assembly elections in Jharkhand scheduled for later this year in Nov-Dec, the election season has arrived in the state and the political scene is set to become even more volatile and dramatic, as it always is in India before any election.
