Theatre of the absurd

Governance Now, June 1-15

Rather ironically, Shibu Soren symbolises everything that has gone wrong in Jharkhand in 10 years of its existence


Jharkhand has slipped into yet another political crisis of a very familiar kind and for a very familiar reason: one man’s obsession to remain the chief minister, whatever be the cost to the people of the state. By the time you read this, the fate of the man and his government would have been decided but the political instability that has gripped the state is unlikely to end anytime soon, not with the kind of opportunism that marks the politics here. It is rather ironic that someone who symbolises the aspirations of the tribals of Chhotanagpur and Santhal Pargana and their success in getting a homeland of their own should also symbolise everything that has gone wrong since then. But then, that is Shibu Soren for you. Soren burst into the national limelight with the JMM bribery scam in 1993 and has done nothing since then to wipe that stain. No such allegations were made this time but by voting in favour of the Congress during the cut motion in parliament in April, while running his government in Ranchi with the BJP support, he has only added to his list of dubious deeds.

Soren’s obsession with the office of the chief minister began in 2005 when, though he didn’t have the numbers, he managed an invitation from the governor to form the government. It lasted for 10 days. When he got the next opportunity, he pulled the rug from under the Madhu Koda government and became the chief minister in 2008 for less than five months as he lost a by-election he need to win to continue in office. The latest was his third attempt and will end on a sour note – even if he were to muster the numbers he needs to get elected to the assembly by the end of June, which is now out of question.

But why blame him alone? The fractured mandate in successive assembly elections has led to all kinds of unholy tie-ups and horse-trading. So much so that the second-longest-serving chief minister (nearly two years), Madhu Koda, was an independent legislator who, with the help of just two other independents, pulled down Arjun Munda’s government in 2006. Munda had replaced the longest-serving and the first chief minister, Babulal Marandi, who remained in office for just over two years and fell victim to the BJP’s internal squabbling. No wonder, the state has had seven chief ministers in 10 years of its existence. As for governance, that has long been forgotten in the theatre of the absurd that is on display in Ranchi quite frequently.