HOW HEMANT WON AGAINST ALL ODDS

THE INSIDE STORY OF HOW THE JMM LEADER OVERCAME IMPRISONMENT AND A VICIOUS, POLARISING CAMPAIGN AGAINST HIM TO FELL THE MIGHTY BJP

- AMITABH SRIVASTAVA

JHARKHAND

From the chief minister's colonial-era bungalow on Ranchi's Kanke Road, once considered jinxed for its occupant, to the stark windowless confines of a room in the Enforcement Directorate's office basement, and ultimately to a cell in Birsa Munda Central Jail.... The world of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) scion Hemant Soren had contracted dramatically earlier this year. Arrested on January 31 by the ED for his alleged involvement in a land-grab case, the 49-year-old Adivasi leader's political ambitions were shackled at a critical juncture-in the very runup to the Lok Sabha election. So write down the JMM-led alliance's impressive victory in the assembly polls first and foremost as a riveting saga of individual grit.

Denied any reprieve to campaign for the parliamentary polls, his political rivals thrived. The BJP-led NDA swept Jharkhand, clinching nine out of its 14 LS seats. Yet, amidst the gloom, there was a silver lining or two. During his absence, his wife Kalpana Soren stepped into the breach with aplomb, emerging as a political force with crossover appeal. A soft-spoken polyglot with cosmopolitan awareness, she made her presence felt as much within the Santhal homelands as on the national stage, sharing the podium with the big names of the INDIA bloc. As it happened, the Opposition alliance, of which Soren's JMM is a key member, held its ground in the state's tribal heartland. It won all five Scheduled Tribe-reserved seats. For good measure, Kalpana also won the Gandey assembly bypoll with over 50 per cent of the votes. Soren's party also successfully framed his arrest as an anti-tribal ploy orchestrated by the BJP-led Centre.