Politics
Journey Through Jharkhand, Dispatch 7: In Palamu And Beyond, Water Runs Dry And The Stakes Run High For 2024
- The stakes in Jharkhand, especially for tribal communities and India’s broader socio-political landscape, are particularly high in the upcoming electoral battle.
Koderma, Garwha, and Palamu districts of Jharkhand.
Koderma
Koderma, located in northern Jharkhand, is a constituency known for its political heavyweights. Babulal Marandi, a former chief minister and the current state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President, hails from here.
Similarly, Annapurna Devi Yadav, the current Union Minister of Women and Child Development and former Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) state chief, is also from this region. Marandi represented the constituency as a member of parliament (MP) from 2004 to 2014.
The constituency is predominantly made up of four main groups: Kushwahas, Yadavs, Bhumihars, and Muslims. In 2019, in the clash of the titans, Annapurna Devi Yadav triumphed over Marandi — who was then leading the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) — defeating him by approximately 3 lakh votes. In the 2024 parliamentary elections, Annapurna Devi retained her seat with a significant margin of 3.8 lakh votes.
The constituency is divided into six assembly segments, with three standout members of the legislative assembly (MLA): Koderma's Neera Yadav (former state HRD Minister and BJP leader), Dhanwar's Babulal Marandi (now with BJP), and Gandey's Kalpana Soren (wife of Hemant Soren, the Chief Minister of Jharkhand from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, or JMM).
During my stay, I spoke with Virendra Kumar, the manager of the hotel where I was lodging. His primary concern was road safety, as the area witnesses at least two or three accidents per month.
Despite having water supply infrastructure in place, the residents receive water only once or twice a week, suggesting that the issue is not merely infrastructural but also related to both the quality and quantity of supply. The power situation is also poor, as I experienced frequent outages even during my stay.
Young people from Koderma often migrate to larger cities to work as labourers. Koderma, recognised as the mica capital of India, has an industry that Kumar described as a "thug business," offering little appeal to younger generations. He believes formalising mining in the region presents a vast, untapped opportunity.
The constituency also has a sizable tribal population. The issue surrounding the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act (CNT) was a hot issue just a few years ago (discussed in previous dispatch). While the Chief Minister's Maiyya Samman program has encountered legal obstacles, the cash transfers from both the state and central governments, particularly for women and farmers, have generally been effective.
Kumar firmly believes that the people are expecting a BJP government in the upcoming elections, contrasting the corruption of the current Hemant Soren government with the cleaner image of previous BJP administrations. Historically, Koderma has favoured the BJP in both parliamentary and assembly elections.
Medininagar (formerly Daltonganj), Palamu District
I met Mohammed Aman, a young entrepreneur in his early 20s, who runs a footwear store in the city. Aman expressed frustration with the deteriorating urban infrastructure. Just the previous week, after heavy rains, the entire business district was flooded with sewage.
Despite Medininagar's proximity to the Koel River — just 500 metres away — the area still suffers from a water supply crisis. Many of Aman's friends have migrated to cities like Chennai and Bengaluru in search of employment, leaving him feeling isolated. Even women are migrating in large numbers to find work, underscoring unemployment as among the primary issues in Jharkhand. Aman is apathetic towards politics, admitting that he sees no benefit from it and couldn't even name his local MLA.
Until a few years ago, the Maoists had a stronghold in Palamu, but the area has since been removed from the list of Left-Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected districts.
Godarmana, Garhwa District
In a small hamlet called Godarmana, located in the Garhwa district near the Chhattisgarh-Jharkhand border, I spoke with Rajbali Prasad. He is a transportation agent who arranges bus tickets and parcel deliveries. He says he belongs to the Halwai community, an Other Backward Class (OBC) rather than Adivasi, as he offers an unsolicited but detailed explanation of his background.
Despite the village’s proximity to the Kanha River, which marks the interstate border, the water crisis is severe. There is no water supply infrastructure, even for agricultural purposes, forcing people to fetch water from the river. Additionally, there is no electricity at night.
The nearest hospital is 28 km away, which creates significant challenges for healthcare access. A Christian missionary-run clinic is located a few kilometres from the village. Unsurprisingly, Christian conversions are reportedly high. The missionaries offer support through schools, clinics, cash assistance, and political alliances with the state government, as the modus operandi of systematically targeting the local tribal population.
The local MLA is Mithilesh Thakur from JMM. Prasad shared that the JMM-RJD-Congress coalition is formidable in the region, as it brings together Adivasi, Muslim, and Christian votes. This bloc is a counterforce to the OBC Hindus that strongly align with the BJP.
The Sarna faith, practised by many of the local Vanvasis, particularly those from the Oraon community, remains central to the area's identity. In spite of being from the tribal community, Hemant Soren is seen as corrupt, with accusations that even the lands he has coveted have been unlawfully taken from Vanvasis. Despite promises to waive electricity bills, the government has failed to fulfil this pledge.
Among one of the most vexing issues here is the digitisation of land records. "Net per chadana" is being spoken about quite a bit. As per existing regulations, tribal (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) lands cannot be sold to non-tribals or non-SCs, posing a serious impediment to infrastructure and industrial development. The local land market too is attenuated, creating cash flow problems for locals.
This village falls under the same Palamu Lok Sabha constituency. According to Rajbali, voters support the BJP solely for Prime Minister Modi, caring little for the local candidate. I found myself pondering how a leader from Gujarat could resonate so strongly with people in these remote tribal areas.
In Summary
Democratic politics is supposed to help us confront most of those issues through a contest of ideas rather than violent power. But some elections do feel like war, in a psychological sense. 2024 Jharkhand is one such.
A civilisational war of attrition between dharmic forces and their foes keeps manifesting itself on many battlefields. And it needs to be fought repeatedly, tirelessly and resolutely. In the undeclared multi-front war against India, the upcoming electoral battle for Jharkhand is an important one. The stakes in Jharkhand, particularly for the tribal communities and India's broader socio-political landscape, cannot be understated.
Earlier dispatches in this 'Journey Through Jharkhand' series:
