It was widely publicised that the ruling party of India had honoured the tribal community by getting a woman from the tribe in the highest position in the nation when Her Excellency Draupadi Murmu became President of the nation. There was a great deal of taking away of praise.
However, after the arrest of Jharkhand’s tribal Chief Minister Hemant Soren by the ED, remarks were made to the effect that “Hemant Soren used to live a comfortable life, now he will have to live like a tribal in the forest, like they lived twenty, thirty, forty years ago.”
Such remarks were made by Sudhir Chaudhary, the anchor of a major national channel AAJ Tak, during one of his special programmes. This was witnessed by the entire nation. The progressive population across the nation and the tribal community responded negatively to Sudhir Chaudhary’s remark. Additionally, a formal complaint was filed at the Ranchi SC/ST police station, calling for Sudhir Chaudhary’s arrest.
BJP did not issued any statement on Sudhir Chaudhary
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its leaders did not issue a statement in response to these comments about tribal people. Understanding the cause is not that tough. Hemant Soren has always been outspoken in his criticism of government policies, while the nation’s tribal president Draupadi Murmu approves of them. For this reason, the ruling system is unaffected by Sudhir Chaudhary’s anti-tribal comments regarding Hemant.
It goes beyond Sudhir Chaudhary’s remarks regarding Hemant Soren. It has to do with how the so-called civilised society thinks. His feelings, perceptions, and ways of thinking about the tribal people. A comfortable life, complete with a car, bungalow and aeroplane, is exclusively theirs. Even if the tribe members consider such a life, they believe it to be wrong, and they will stop at nothing to uphold their way of thinking. Able to express anything.
However, Sudhir Chaudhary and those who share his mindset tend to lose sight of the source of their opulent, hi-fi lifestyle.
How people view tribal areas and people as
A comfortable life is ensured for the so-called civilised society by demolishing Jharkhand and other tribal areas of the country, uprooting the local population, and taking advantage of their natural resources. The movement for a separate state of Jharkhand was sparked by the same way of thinking as the so-called civilised society. Jharkhand became its own state under the leadership of Hemant Soren’s father, Shibu Soren.
However, the mindset remained the same even after an individual state was established. There was a long-standing belief that tribal peoples were incapable of governing themselves. Similar to how the British once claimed that Indians couldn’t govern themselves before they gained independence.
The Bharatiya Janata Party ruled at the federal level when the state of Jharkhand was established. While Jharkhand’s citizens demanded a state based on their cultural identity, the BJP accepted the establishment of a distinct state on administrative grounds. The BJP formed the first government. Tribal Babulal Marandi was appointed Chief Minister. However, it was altered prior to the tenure’s end.
Jharkhand and it’s history of CMs
Chief Minister Arjun Munda was appointed. Arjun Munda was appointed Chief Minister even after that, but the Bharatiya Janata Party’s strategy meant that no chief minister from a tribal community could serve out their full five-year term and that a negative perception of tribal people’s incapacity to rule was created.
The Chhattisgarh native Raghuvar Das was then appointed Chief Minister by the BJP, and his administration ran without any issues for five years. This sent the message, “Look, you can have a non-tribal Chief Minister for five years.”
In the ensuing assembly elections, Raghuvar Das himself was defeated. Following that, the Congress and RJD supported the formation of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha government. The leader of the Khanti tribal movement in Jharkhand, Hemant Soren, son of Shibu Soren, was elected chief minister.
Hemant Soren as CM of Jharkhand
Numerous attempts were made to overthrow the government of Hemant Soren and split the parties. News of the government’s impending collapse has been circulating since Hemant became the leader of the new government. Ultimately, Hemant Soren was forced to resign before serving his full four-year term due to circumstances brought on by ED. That is to say, the story that no tribal person in Jharkhand can serve out a five-year term was true.
However, based on the response to Hemant Soren’s arrest and Sudhir Chaudhary’s remarks regarding it, it appears that things have gone completely wrong this time. It was opposed by other Jharkhandi communities as well as the tribals. This was deemed unacceptable even by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s supporters.
In response to this anti-tribal sentiment, the tribal people of the remainder of Bengal, Odisha, and the neighbouring state of Chhattisgarh have also protested and called for Sudhir Chaudhary’s arrest under the SCST Act.
by Swapnil Angel Samad