Waking up to a reality

The party which suffered a rout in the Lok Sabha election is now in a limbo. Its three top leaders Shibhu Soren, Suraj Mandal and Simon Marandi — who are facing trial in the bribery case — are under increasing pressure from the rank and file — and at least five of their 16 MLAs — to quit the party posts and withdraw support to the RJD government.

While their workers and dissident MLAs are openly critical, some of JMM executive committee members blame both Soren and Mandal for their party’s present woes. "They are thereal culprits. They joined hands with Laloo who is our enemy number one. This alienated our supporters who voted en masse for the BJP. The worse thing is they are not ready to admit it and are trying to secure Rajya Sabha seats from Laloo," said James Hero, a JMM worker.

No wonder, the JMM leaders have become more realistic than ever. They have distanced themselves from their old demand of a tribal homeland (Greater Jharkhand comprising 26 districts of four states of Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, and Madhya Pradesh) and publicly greeted the BJP’s move on Vananchal.

The shift in the stance of the JMM is believed to be strategic. "Yes, it is part of our strategy. The demand for Greater Jharkhand is not feasible right now. We will fight for it after we get the statehood for the Bihar Plateau area," said JMM leader Ram Dayal Minda.

However, they insist that they want the state to be called Jharkhand and not Vananchal as proposed. They say that even if it called Vananchal they would change it into Jharkhandwhen they come to power.

So to step up the pressure and to remain in news, Soren and Mandal have issued an ultimatum to the Prime Minister to "to create a separate State by June 19 or face an agitation".

Vajpayee had stated during his poll campaign that a Vananchal State would come into existence within 90 days of his party coming to power. Soren said: "Ninety days will end on June 18. If he fail to fulfil his poll promise, we will have no other alternative than to launch an agitation for the same."

The All Jharkhand Struggle Committee (AJSC) memorandum last week to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, asking him to create "create a separate State immediately or face dharnas" in all the 18 district headquarters is seen as a move to prevent it.

The AJSC — an umbrella organisation formed last year by the CPI, CPI-M, Marxist Coordination Committee and the Jharkhand People’s Party-All Jharkhand Students’ Union combine — had failed to launch any major agitation for a separate State last year.Apart from Jharkhand, the other force that binds these parties together is their anti-Laloo stance.

The JMM has taken notice of the post-election re-emergence of the AJSC. "It is a Jharkhandi body. We share its objective. We are not opposed to it," Soren said while ruling out the possibility of his party joining the AJSC’s agitation.

The RJD government does not have an choice but to go along the JMM line. Ridding piggyback on two mutually hostile parties — the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha — the government has not opposed the BJP’s move on a separate State. And it never can as the State Assembly had passed a resolution approving creation of a separate Jharkhand State.

Moreover, the JMM — whose support is decisive for the government — has made its position very clear. Its president Soren told The Indian Express: "Lalooji will not come in the way of the creation of a separate State. If he does, we will oppose him."

In an ideal situation, the RJD chief, Laloo Prasad Yadav, can’taccept the bifurcation of Bihar as is bound to be counter-productive in the northern and central parts of the State. And he would be happy to continue with the present arrangement of an autonomous council for the area.

Caught in a Catch-22 situation, the RJD government has announced its decision to hold the Jharkhand Area Autonomous Council (JAAC) poll in May. But the BJP Vananchal Samiti Secretary, Prem Kataruka, in a letter to the Bihar Governor has demanded the dissolution of the JAAC. "The JAAC poll will cost about Rs 28-30 crore. Why should this huge sum of public funds be wasted when the Union Home Ministry has already started the process of creation of Vananchal?" he said.