Left Campaign on Bread-and-Butter Concerns Lights up Electoral Contest in Jharkhand’s Kodarma
Very used to campaign rhetoric, voters are surprised at a candidate who speaks of local issues and directly addresses aspirations. But that is not the only reason why Vinod Singh is popular.
Kodarma (Jharkhand): A bunch of men, mostly in their forties, are animatedly discussing Vinod Singh’s electoral prospects at a busy Rajdhanwar market.
“Had it not been for Vinod ji, we wouldn’t have seen electricity in Dhanwar Bazaar,” says Ranjit Kumar Modi, a hardware store owner in Upraili Dhanwar. Modi goes on to recall how Singh diffused tensions between the state police and agitating shopkeepers a decade ago when the market association was protesting against a month-long electricity failure in the town.
“The police were ready to fire at us. He protected us from bullets,” Modi said.
Vijay Kumar Ravidas chips in, “Not only bijli, he also fought with the administration to get a pucca road constructed in our basti.”
“He is a people’s leader. He is available even in the middle of the night. He is the one who arranged an ambulance for me when my mother was on her deathbed,” Chandraprakash Mahato, a meat-seller, intervenes.
“Vinod ji helped our children enrol in schools, and fought for us to get rightful wages,” says Lalita Tudu, standing nearby.
Modi belongs to the Bania community; Mahato is a Kurmi OBC, Ravidas a Dalit and Lalita, a Santhal Adivasi.
A large section of people in Rajdhanwar believes that Vinod Singh, the INDIA bloc candidate from the Communist Party of India (ML-Liberation), will draw votes from all communities of the Kodarma Lok Sabha seat. Singh’s popularity cuts across caste groups and communities, turning the constituency into a sort of oasis where caste and community equations may play a much smaller role than other seats of Jharkhand.
Singh won the Bagodar assembly seat in Kodarma for the third time with nearly 50% votes. He has increased his support in each election, and continues to have a widespread influence across the industrial belt of Kodarma and Giridih in Jharkhand. On the evening when the Enforcement Directorate raided chief minister Hemant Soren’s house before arresting him, Singh accompanied him to the governor to whom Soren handed his resignation.
Singh garnered state-wide attention for playing a crucial role in the formation of the Champai Soren government in a moment of crisis for the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. When his party announced him as the INDIA bloc candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, JMM and the Rashtriya Janata Dal leaders of the region immediately backed him without any hesitation. Kodarma, thus, became an instance where coordination between different INDIA bloc constituents has played out most ideally, with barely any mudslinging against each other.
Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana Soren, who is also contesting her maiden assembly by-poll in neighbouring Gandey constituency, has backed Singh like no other. “Electing Singh means that Kodarma residents will have a fearless voice in the parliament. He will take up your real concerns right from the streets to the Lok Sabha,” she said in front of a packed audience at the INDIA rally on May 15, 2024 in Teesri, Kodarma.
“Much of the credit for the INDIA bloc putting together an united fight goes to Vinod Singh’s ability to accommodate everyone,” says Vinay Santhalia, a businessman in Rajdhanwar, who was also a former Zila Parishad member.
The incumbent
Contesting against him is Union minister of state for education and MP Annpurna Devi of the BJP. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, she defeated the former chief minister Babulal Marandi with a margin of over 4.5 lakh votes. Marandi had then contested from his own party Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) but merged his party in February 2020 with the BJP.
Given past record, the 2024 Lok Sabha should have been a cakewalk for Annpurna Devi, seeing that she belongs to the Yadav community which also constitutes the biggest chunk of voters in Kodarma. But Singh’s candidacy has not only queered the conventional caste-based electoral equations but also pivoted the campaign towards local concerns of the people.
Moreover, her alleged “non-performance” through the last two terms has her own caste members agitated.
“We do not have problems with (Narendra) Modi ji but for how long should we vote for a non-performing asset like our MP. Let alone fulfilling our long-pending demand to get our tubewells fixed, she hasn’t even cared to visit us once in the last 10 years, “ says Babulal Yadav, a daily-wage worker, in Pesham village.
Like Babulal, most Yadav residents of Pesham were miffed by Annpurna Devi’s alleged absence from the constituency. “She can’t get votes in the name of Modi ji forever,” says 25-year Priyaranjan Yadav, who migrates to Hyderabad for work every six months.
However, Yadav residents of the village appear to be in two minds. Most perceive Singh to be a “people’s leader” but also seem caught between voting along caste lines and choosing a candidate who they thought was better placed to address problems like unemployment, distress migration, water crisis and steep electricity bills.
Unlike Singh’s popular support even among other INDIA parties, Annapurna Devi is facing a challenge in her own backyard. Jai Prakash Verma, a former BJP leader, has rebelled and is contesting as an independent candidate. Verma is the nephew of Rati Lal Prasad Verma, former BJP MP who was elected for six terms in Kodarma. His family has substantial influence among Kushwahas, an OBC community and is likely to damage Annpurna Devi’s prospects.
Annpurna Devi is seeking votes in the name of the Prime Minister Modi and attempting to consolidate Yadavs and BJP’s traditional supporters, while Singh has doggedly tried to raise local concerns, while also projecting the contest as one between “BJP’s authoritarian rule that supports corporate loot” and “forces which want to save democracy and India’s constitution.”
Mining support
But, additionally, Singh has raised five specific concerns. Singh has said that he will work towards establishing a worker-friendly Mica Industrial Board and restart environment-friendly and sustainable stone-crushing. He has also promised to make Kodarma an education hub comprising a medical college, public schools and colleges, and an agricultural research institute. He has further promised to improve planned irrigation and provide cheap electricity for agriculture. Lastly, he has promised to press for special trains that will help migrant workers to travel for work.
These issues, The Wire found, have an emotional appeal among residents of Rajdhanwar and adjoining Bagodar. Once famous for mica mining, Kodarma is part of Jharkhand’s industrial belt. Around two decades ago, mica mining gave many Kodarma residents work, but it has stopped since then because of environmental concerns, so much so that even trading Mica scrap that people find in their own houses and farms has been declared illegal.
The Hemant Soren government passed a law to make it legal but the state government still has to make its rules. Stone crushing, another big employment generator in the region, has also been declared illegal because of environmental concerns. This has forced most workers to migrate in India and abroad. A large section goes to the Gulf region and other Asian countries as workers in companies that install high-tension wires used for electricity transmission. The casualty rate of workers is also high.
At the Muslim-dominated Mehboob Chowk, Singh addressed a rally on May 14, 2024. The residents of Mehboob Chowk have traditionally voted against the BJP and appeared to overwhelmingly support him.
“The Modi regime is an assault on India’s sanjhi virasat (syncretic culture) and people’s aspirations,” Singh said.
“Annpurna Devi was elected twice by the people of Kodarma with great excitement. But she is merely a puppet. Modi ji’s mehboob (beloved) is not us, but Ambani and Adani. He had said that he will declare Giridih and Kodarma as ‘aspirational’ districts. Nothing was done. On the contrary, Giridih saw the biggest cut in funds for the PM’s Housing scheme for the poor. Similarly, the funds for MGREGA in Jharkhand was drastically reduced, even as the overall tax share for the state was delayed and slashed,” he said.
“Distress migration to Hyderabad and Surat has been increasing every year. If Jharkhand’s due share of taxes were not slashed, we could have given Rs 2000 as pensions to the eligible people. All business and environment rules are being changed for people like Adani and Ambani, but when we ask for some businesses to start here, we are told it can’t happen,” said Singh, before repeating his five promises.
Standing at a corner, Mohammad Safdar, a 25-year-old migrant worker at a juice shop in Hyderabad, was pleasantly surprised that Singh did not merely speak against “BJP’s anti-Muslim nature” to seek votes but also spoke about generating employment and improving the conditions of the village.
“We are not merely Muslims, we are also voters,” he later tells The Wire.