Still their hero

The conviction of Shibu Soren in the Shashinath Jha murder case is, by itself, not that important. In fact, such a development should be seen as natural in the context of the criminalization of politics, particularly in the Hindi heartland. What effect this may have on the Madhu Koda ministry in Jharkhand is also not important. That ministry has no business to be there in the first place as the people of the state did not want it. Its birth was an outcome of horse-trading, one of the many aspects of the criminalization of politics. Indeed, the ordinary man in Bihar or Jharkhand has become so used to such things that he is not bothered.

Over the years, the society in Patna or Ranchi has come to accept murder as ‘normal’. This became abundantly clear during one’s stay in Patna. The head of the family in whose house one lived as a tenant had been murdered, as also a close relation of a junior colleague in the office. Such murders also take place elsewhere, but what was strange was the nonchalance with which these incidents were narrated. The gentlemen were rich and influential, and so it was taken to be natural for them to get bumped off.

More natural, certainly, for those in politics. Some years ago, the then railway minister, Lalit Narayan Mishra, had succumbed to bomb injuries at Samastipur. It was suspected that he would not have died if proper medical attention had not been ‘denied’ him, allegedly under instructions from faraway New Delhi. But those who continued to make the allegations were not bothered. “Lalitbabu knew too much and had to be silenced”— was the explanation, as if this was most ordinary. The same explanation is now being offered in the case of Shashinath Jha. It is the influential who are privy to secrets, and the price for such knowledge is death. Why should civil society bother?

As for Shibu Soren, the present conviction may be followed by others. He is one of the accused in the 1975 Chirudih mass massacre, for which he was arrested and later released on bail. The case is still on. Whether Guruji is really guilty is for the courts to decide. What can be said for certain at this moment is that even if he is kept behind bars for the rest of his life, Soren’s image among his followers will not take the kind of beating that urbanites in distant cities would expect it to. For even if he did arrange the murder of his former secretary, he did not do anything out of the ordinary.

The trouble is that the questions raised in metropolitan India by the sophisticated people — and they dominate the media also — are often of little relevance in the dusty fields of the nation’s countryside. New Delhi or Mumbai or Calcutta may squirm at the sight of a Lalu Prasad remaining unconcerned after spending days in a Patna jail, but his constituents are clearly not bothered. Shibu Soren got bail in the Chirudih case, he was not declared innocent. But that did not stop him from demanding that his office be returned to him (he did get it back) or even staking his claim to the chief minister’s chair at Ranchi after the numbers-game was made to go against Arjun Munda. Both Prasad and Soren would have been less brazen if they had a disapproving society to think of, but they knew it wasn’t there. The reality in Bihar, Jharkhand, and perhaps in other states also, is far removed from the perceptions of the Western-educated in the seminar halls and media studios.

There is also another point to be considered. The charge doing the rounds is that Jha had been killed because he was not only aware of the bribe that the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha had been paid but because he also demanded a share of the booty. But who had benefited from that bribe in a much larger way? It was the Congress ministry at the Centre. Former prime minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, was found not guilty, but has the last been heard of that ugly episode? There would not have been a murder case if that bribe had not been paid. If Soren had really been responsible for the murky deed, then can’t it be argued that the responsibility for the “original sin” lay elsewhere?

So what happens now in Jharkhand? Together with the news of Shibu Soren’s conviction had come the suggestion that his party may now fall into pieces. It is difficult to understand why. Soren is certainly the face of the party but he is also not its sole limb. As long as the other limbs are there, a new face can always emerge. Also, over many years, he has been an iconic figure, and an icon can be kept alive from even inside iron bars. Particularly as long as his followers feel that their dream of a new life in a state of their own can only be realized as long as they stick to Soren’s path.

The tribal leaders in the Bharatiya Janata Party have clearly let these people down, and have now fallen apart. The Congress offers no space for them, never did. As for the suggestion that a regional party tends to disintegrate if the leader is not around, it should be understood that the JMM is not like the Trinamool Congress. The former was born out of a definite urge for self-determination and not for the realization of the personal ambitions of an individual or two. Also, the Telugu Desam Party did not fold up with the passing away of N.T. Rama Rao or the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu with the death of Annadurai. Unlike them, Shibu Soren was not the founding father of the Jharkhand movement. His absence will not mean that there is no one else to keep it going.

As for the Madhu Koda ministry, it may well collapse if the JMM(S) decides to withdraw support because of some twisted perception that Soren could have been saved if the Centre had so willed. After all, there is the feeling that in Bihar, Lalu Prasad is being ‘looked after’ by the Manmohan Singh government because of the key role he plays in the United Progressive Alliance’s staying in power. But even if president’s rule comes to be imposed in Jharkhand and elections held next year, a clear picture may not emerge. Unless, of course, Sonia Gandhi, Shibu Soren (even from inside prison), Lalu Prasad, the left parties — all join hands to keep the National Democratic Alliance at bay. Unless that happens, the Raj Bhavan at Ranchi may become active once more.

Right now, of course, all this is in the realm of conjecture. However, one can say with some certainty that tears are unlikely to be shed if the present arrangement collapses. There were hardly any tears when earlier ministries fell, except perhaps by groups of traders who did not belong to tribal communities. The new state was created to safeguard their interests. At present, of course, another set of people has taken up the tribals’ cause, and a deepening of administrative and political crisis can only be good news for them.