NO SEDITION for Pathalgadis, CM Soren’s announcement. Jharkhand, welcome to the darkness.

As was being feared, JMM supremo, Hemant Soren has embarked on an anti-developmental agenda right after taking oath as the 11th Chief Minister of Jharkhand. Soon after taking oath as the Jharkhand CM, Soren held the first cabinet meeting of the newly sworn-in government where he announced withdrawal of cases related to the Pathalgadi movement and also those cases related to the Santhal Pargana Tenancy (SPT) and Chotanagpur Tenancy Act (CNT) Amendments.

It is important to mention here that the Pathalgadi movement had taken shape last year when armed men involved in the Pathalgadi movement turned thousands of villagers into an autonomous region. Some called it ‘Adivasi corridor’, and others called it ‘Adivasistan’. The movement, therefore, had a sense of separatism/ secessionism attached to it.

Moreover, it also had the opium angle attached to it. Jharkhand has merged as one of the biggest cultivators of opium in India and Pathalgadi movement contributed to its meteoric rise. The Jharkhand police had attributed the law and order challenge posed by the Pathalgadi movement to a bunch of opium cultivators, which exposed the nexus between opium cultivators and Pathalgadi supporters. As per the state police, the opium cultivators instigate the tribal youth in order to create a shield for their growing business. 

The Pathalgadi movement had directly challenged the legitimacy of the Indian State by enacting a stone order. Stone plaques and signboards had come up in several villages which dismissed the authority of the central or the state governments in those villages. Now, by withdrawing cases against those who led such a seditious movement, the newly sworn-in Hemant Soren government has given an impetus to such separatist elements. 

The CNT and SPT Amendments, on the other hand, were aimed at giving tribals the right to make commercial use of their properties, while ensuring that the ownership of such properties remained vested in the tribals. The Amendments had also specified the sectors in which the government could take land from tribals on lease. The Amendments were therefore aimed at ensuring the rise of commerce and industry in the state while keeping the interests of the tribals protected at the same time. The opposition parties and tribal organisations, however, had indulged in propaganda against the Amendments. Hemant Soren government has also announced withdrawal of cases relating to protests against the said Amendments- something that will bolster elements that have pursued an anti-developmental agenda in Jharkhand. 

Jharkhand CM, Hemant Soren had recently hinted that his government would review the anti-conversion law, that is, the Freedom of Religion Act, 2017 that was brought in during the tenure of Hemant Soren’s predecessor, Raghubar Das. This Act is critical in breaking the conversion industry-Naxalism nexus in Jharkhand which holds the key for tackling the anti-developmental elements in the state and putting the state on the path of brisk development. This exposes the overall anti-developmental agenda that the Hemant Soren government is going to pursue in the state.

The opium angle related to the Pathalgadi movement, the conversion industry, anti-developmental forces including those who had orchestrated protests against the CNT and SPT Act Amendments are all interrelated, and none of them can be tackled in isolation. This entire anti-developmental machinery that has traditionally tormented the state of Jharkhand needs to be exterminated as a composite whole. In fact, the opium cultivators a bunch of whom were part of the Pathalgadi movement abet the tribal youth against the State in order to use them as a shield, while Maoists force the tribals to grow opium, which is a major source of funding for the Maoists. A link- direct or indirect, between the Maoists and the Pathalgadi supporters cannot be ruled out. The recently ousted Raghubar Das government had gradually built an edifice to exterminate all those forces within the state which had kept Jharkhand devoid of development for all these years. It was also committed to further strengthening this edifice through a slew of legislative and administrative measures. 

However, the Hemant Soren government has destroyed the entire edifice to put Jharkhand on the path of quick development soon after the oath-taking ceremony. TFIPOST had already warned how a non-BJP government in yet another Naxal affected state could resurrect Left Wing Extremism (LWE), creating an East-West Corridor right from Jharkhand in the East to Maharashtra in the West. Unfortunately, the first few decisions of the Hemant Soren government and its intentions of repealing the anti-conversion law in Maharashtra have come as a strong vindication of our fears.