Sita Soren, member of Jharkhand's largest political family, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), and sister-in-law of former Chief Minister Hemant Soren, resigned from the JMM on March 19 and has joined the BJP ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
In recent years, the country has witnessed a large number of instances where politicians have switched their party affiliations. In the latest development, Sita Soren, member of Jharkhand's largest political family, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), and sister-in-law of former Chief Minister Hemant Soren, has resigned from the JMM and joined another party.
On Tuesday, 19 March, Sita Soren tendered her resignation from the memberships of the JMM and the state Legislative Assembly, all within two hours, and by the fourth hour, she had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in New Delhi. Speaking soon after, she said, “Leaving the great Soren family of Jharkhand, I have joined the huge family of Modi ji.”
Obviously, all this has not transpired suddenly. Her path to the BJP was paved by her long-simmering resentment with the JMM.
In the wake of this upheaval, the INDIA vs NDA fight in Jharkhand has grown more interesting. It is being conjectured that Sita Soren could be the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Dumka. The BJP has announced its candidates on all the reserved Scheduled-Caste seats in Jharkhand. But the elections in Jharkhand will only start from the fourth phase and the election on the Dumka seat is in the last phase. Political analysts believe that that gives the BJP plenty of time to change its candidate and make Sita Soren its new face.
Senior journalist Sunny Sharad believes that the elections in the state will very likely become Dumka-centric now. He tells Outlook, “The contest in Dumka is going to be fierce. The BJP could change its candidate there for Sita Soren and there is a strong possibility that Hemant Soren will also contest from there. If Hemant is the candidate, obviously, his wife, Kalpana Soren, will handle his campaign. This could lead to a situation where two daughters-in-law from the same family will face off against each other in the election field.”
Sharad also predicts that the campaign will see the sisters-in-law play the sympathy card against each other. In fact, Jama MLA Sita Soren, in her resignation letter, has accused the JMM of neglecting her. The letter states that her resignation was submitted with a very heavy heart, and that she was isolated from the rest of the party, which was very painful for her. She has also accused the party of conspiring against her.
Kalpana Soren, too, stirred emotions when she burst into tears while speaking about her jailed husband at a rally organised in Giridih earlier this month. She alleged that there was a conspiracy behind sending Hemant Soren to jail in the alleged land scam.
Sita Soren is the elder daughter-in-law of JMM national president Shibu Soren and the wife of late Durga Soren. She was thrice elected the MLA from the Jama Assembly seat of Dumka. However, even with her strong hold on the politics of Jharkhand, she was not able to find a place in the Hemant cabinet till date. She has expressed her political ambitions and her complaints against the JMM and the state government for years.
In February, amid speculations about Hemant Soren going to jail, Kalpana Soren's name came up as the next CM. Sita Soren objected to the idea and put forth herself as the superior candidate, being the elder daughter-in-law of the family. But when Hemant went to jail, Champai Soren was made the CM and it was believed that Sita Soren would get a place in the new cabinet. She had then said in a conversation with Outlook that both Guruji, i.e. Shibu Soren, and Hemant had assured her of a ministership. But when the cabinet expansion took place on February 16, Sita Soren found herself left out yet again.
Sita Soren's husband Durga Soren was once considered a strong leader of the party and deemed the successor of JMM national president Shibu Soren. He won his first assembly election from Jama in 1995. However, he died at a young age of 39 in a Bokaro hospital in May 2009. Following this, Sita Soren became active in politics and won the assembly election from Jama in 2009. In 2019, she confirmed her victory on this seat for the third consecutive time.
Senior journalist Akhilesh Singh says that Sita Soren was a great leader of the JMM and that her allegations of neglect cannot be rejected outright. Singh tells Outlook, “Her husband, Durga Soren, was second only to Guruji in the nineties. You see, Hemant Soren became CM twice. Basant, a one-time MLA, became a minister. Hemant's wife, Kalpana, has become active in politics and she is even being projected as a CM face. So the question is, if you do not look at Kalpana Soren, a three-time MLA, not being made a minister as neglect, then how will you look at it?
It is noteworthy that Kalpana Soren made her public entry into politics when she waved the JMM flag and tearfully addressed the crowds during the JMM's 51st Foundation Day function organised on March 4 in Giridih. This put her in the news. Political experts reacted with predictions that the JMM stood to grow in strength with the arrival of Kalpana Soren and that she would fill the vacuum created by Hemant‘s arrest. According to experts, Kalpana Soren's entry into politics is to ensure that if Hemant does not come out of jail by the time of the assembly elections in December this year, she can be projected as the next CM by the party.
Journalist Sharad views Kalpana Soren's projection as a major reason for Sita Soren's displeasure and her decision to leave the party. He says, “You see, when the INDIA alliance met in Mumbai on March 18 for the concluding ceremony of Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Joda Nyaya Yatra, it was Kalpana Soren who was seen as the face of the JMM. Despite Chief Minister Champai Soren being present on the stage, it was she who addressed the crowd. It is more or less clear who will be the face of the party in Hemant's absence. Sita Soren's resentment was bound to increase."
This puts into perspective Sita Soren’s exit from the party 15 days after sister-in-law Kalpana Soren's entry on March 4 and 48 days after brother-in-law Hemant Soren’s arrest on January 31.
Sita Soren's resignation and her joining the rival BJP is being seen as a blow to the JMM. Speaking on the resignation, chief spokesperson of the party Supriyo Bhattacharya said, “Shibu Soren said that this is a family matter and that he would solve it himself. But Sita Soren did not even give him a chance to talk. She joined the BJP immediately after her resignation.”
However, Bhattacharya also said that while it is not in the interest of the party for even an ordinary worker to leave, Sita Soren’s exit will not have any significant impact.
Dumka is considered the JMM citadel in the Santhal Pargana. In the 2019 assembly elections, members of the Soren family won three seats in the Dumka district: Hemant Soren in Barhet, Bansat Soren in Dumka, and Sita Soren in Jama.
Meanwhile, JMM national president and former Union minister Shibu Soren has won from the Dumka Lok Sabha seat a whopping eight times since 1990. However, he lost the last Lok Sabha elections in 2019 to Sunil Soren by a margin of 47,590 votes. Thus, Dumka is already a sitting seat of the BJP.
If sources are to be believed, Shibu Soren may not contest from Dumka again owing to his poor health. It is also believed that Kalpana Soren will contest the by-election from the Gandey seat in Giridih, which has been vacant since JMM leader Sarfaraz Ahmed put in his papers in December. Bansat Soren is already an MLA and minister from Dumka. Obviously, in such a situation, the Soren family would not bet on any candidate from outside the family for the Dumka Lok Sabha poll. So there is a great possibility this seat will be contested by Hemant Soren from jail.
Now, if the BJP replaces its candidate for this seat with Sita Soren, who is from the same family, then it will make for a very interesting contest. There is also some speculation that Sita Soren might contest the Lok Sabha elections from Rajmahal. This is the sole seat that the JMM won in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
(Translated by Kaushika Draavid)