By Rabindra Nath Sinha
KOLKATA: A development in the ultra-Left politics that happened on September 9 this year in Jharkhand, to be more specific in the Dhanbad coalfields, gets cemented as elections for the sixth state Assembly knock at the door and revive memories of the role that the Marxist Coordination Committee’s veteran leader A K Roy (Arun Kumar Roy) had played in the area’s trade union movement for many years. [Not many people were aware of his full name; he was well-known and always addressed as A K Roy].
MCC was formally merged with CPI Marxist-Leninist (Liberation) on September 9 and for the impending Assembly elections two erstwhile MCC leaders — Arup Chatterjee and Chandradeo Mahto alias Bablu Mahto – are set to fight as CPI-ML candidates for the Nirsa and Sindri seats respectively. CPI-ML state secretary Manoj Bhakt and Nirsa candidate Chatterjee told IPA after protracted negotiations the two saw strong reasons for consolidation and ultimately MCC decided to merge itself into CPI-ML. Chatterjee had lost in the 2019 elections but had won in the 2014 elections from Nirsa whose command area covers the famous Maithon and Panchet dams.
The party has selected two ‘original’ CPI-ML leaders to fight the elections. They are sitting Bagodar (Giridih district) MLA Vinod Singh and Raj Kumar Yadav for the Dhanwar (also, in Giridih district) seat. But, here complications have arisen as the coalition leader Jharkhand Mukti Morcha too has decided to contest for this seat. Bhakt informed that his party has decided to field a nominee for Dhanwar as “we have a strong base there. We are urging JMM to leave the seat to us”.
Bhakt and Chatterjee are optimistic that the merger will make a difference to the trade union movement in the Dhanbad colliery areas in the days to come and naturally impact politics too. Both asserted that the merger marked a decision of political import; it should not be judged in terms of numbers.
In the ‘normal’ Left camp, both CPI and CPM are in the fray and quite a few of their nominees have filed papers. CPI has selected nine candidates and has sought permission from its central leadership to field a few more candidates as “several other leaders are willing to fight”, according to CPI state secretary Mahendra Pathak. “We want to field a total of 15 candidates but our central leadership has advised us to restrict the number to 10. Let’s see, Pathak told IPA. Tribal areas where CPI workers are active throughout the year are being accorded priority, he added.
CPM has zeroed in on nine seats, judging by the party’s strength and acceptability of candidates. The party’s strategy is to be as representative as possible even within this small number. Thus, among its five tribal faces, one is a woman. There is one each SC and minority candidate and there are two general constituency candidates, according to CPM state secretary Prakash Viplab. The party has completed the nomination filing process, Viplab told IPA. A clear picture of how many ultra-Left and ‘usual’ Left candidates will remain the fray will be known after the withdrawal date. Informed quarters said their assessment is finally the figure may vary between 22 and 24.
Conversations that this correspondent have had with a cross-section of political leaders suggested that JMM and the Congress are in a mood to accommodate Leftists as unity among secular and democratic forces will make the task of defeating BJP a bit easy. They realise after the polls in Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir the score is one: one and, therefore, BJP will make all-out efforts to wrest Jharkhand from the JMM-led coalition. Moreover, as part of its pan-India strategy, BJP has been paying extra attention to the tribal areas in a bid to crease a firm voter base. But, in the Lok Sabha elections held five months back, the party fared poorly on the tribal-dominated seats which account for 28 Assembly segments, which means 30 per cent plus of the 81-member House.
According to latest indications, JMM will certainly seek to maintain its leadership position by contesting 50 per cent plus of the seats, which may translate into 41 seats. In that case, the number may be two less than in 2019, when it had fielded candidates for 43 seats including two – Barhait and Dumka — contested by chief minister Hemant Soren. After the results, he had opted out of Dumka and made his brother Basant to contest. Basant had then won and he is being fielded against from Dumka.
Hemant has already confirmed he will fight only from Barhait. A decision in favour of CPI-ML for Dhanwar will mean JMM fighting on 41 seats. The Congress had fielded 31 candidates in 2019. This time round the part will context on 30 seats. The party’s chief spokesperson Kishore Sahadeo told IPA the decision had been made keeping in view ground realities and the need to accommodate Leftists as far as possible. The JMM-lead coalition’s third important partner is Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal which has been persuaded to be content with six constituencies.
In the BJP-led coalition, a change worth mentioning is that All Jharkhand Students Union, which had fought separately in 2019, is back under the BJP umbrella and will fight on 10 seats. The coalition leader will put up candidates in 68 constituencies. Three seats are earmarked small parties including that of Nitish Kumar. (IPA Service)
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