Jharkhand Assembly election results have been declared. In the election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) trumped up the issue of 'Bangladeshi infiltrators' in tribal areas. But that strategy of BJP did not work. The BJP's campaign failed to garner the support of tribal voters in the Santal Pargana region of the state. As a result, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) lost 27 of the 28 seats reserved for scheduled communities in the state.
BJP has fielded candidates in 25 seats in Santal Pargana, Kalhan, South Chotanagpur and Palamau regions. Out of this BJP won only Seraikela seat. Former chief minister Champai Saren, who joined the BJP from the ruling Janamukti Morcha (JMM), won the seat. In the 2019 elections, BJP won 3 tribal dominated seats. This time the party lost both Khunti and Torpa seats.
Several constituencies in the Santal Pargana region in the northeastern part of the state border West Bengal. In this region, the anti-BJP alliance 'India' got about 52 percent of the votes. Which is the highest compared to other constituencies. Also, this vote is 12 percent higher than in 2019. BJP also lost other general seats in Santal Pargana region. Like Rajmahal, Sarath, and Godda.
BJP candidate Anant Kumar Ojha has been the winner in Rajmahal since 2009 but this time Janmukti Morcha candidate Mohammad Tajuddin has won by a margin of 43 thousand votes. BJP also lost to JMM in Sarathe. Godda seat lost to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). This party also defeated the BJP in Deoghar. But the Deoghar constituency was won by BJP in 2014 and 2019.
In the Santal Pargana region, the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance won 17 of the 18 assembly seats. In this region BJP won only Jamrundi seat. Earlier, Congress had won this seat in 2014 and 2019 elections.
In the Jharkhand assembly elections, the BJP trumpeted the issue of 'Bangladeshi infiltration' in its campaign. The BJP highlighted the issue as a threat to the tribal spirit of the state. Not only that, the group blamed the issue—on demographic change, attacks on tribal women, land grabbing and loss of tribal cultural practices. The BJP used slogans like 'Ruti, Beti, Mati Raksha Karo' and 'Ek Hai To Safe Hai' to challenge the long-standing alliance of Muslim and tribal communities in the India bloc.
In the context of this aggressive campaign by the BJP, the JMM tackled the issue from three angles. First, by accusing the BJP-led central government of failing to control 'infiltration'. Second, BJP's controversial election campaigners are labeled as 'outsiders'. At the same time, the JMM alleged that these leaders failed to stop the atrocities on tribals in their states. Thirdly, the BJP labeled the MPs' proposal to separate Santal Pargana from Jharkhand as a campaign to break up the BJP state.
The BJP ran massive advertisements on social media to promote the issue of 'Bangladeshi infiltration'. Besides, the BJP campaigned on the promise of a National Register of Citizens. On the contrary, the JMM was promoting public relations through WhatsApp groups at the district level.
The BJP's campaign on the encroachment issue was further boosted by the government commission releasing the results of the 'inquiry' into the encroachment issue. However, ahead of the elections, the BJP-led central government and the JMM-led state government faced off in the Jharkhand High Court over the issue.
In fact, Champai Saren and Lobin Hembram, among the top Janamukti leaders, were the first to publicly mention the infiltration issue as one of the reasons for joining the BJP. They identified this issue as a threat to the tribal livelihood of Santal Pargana. But Lobin Hembrom himself lost his seat.
The BJP fielded Sita Murmu Soren, daughter-in-law of JMM founder Shibu Soren, against Congress's Irfan Ansari in the Jamtara seat of Santal Pargana, raising the 'infiltrator' issue. But Sita Murmu lost by a margin of 43 thousand votes.
Taking up the issue of 'infiltrators' in tribal villages in South Chotanagpur region, the BJP promised to implement the National Register of Citizens here. But even then, the region did not win even one of the 11 tribal reserved seats.
