The BJP’s extensive campaign in the run-up to Jharkhand assembly polls saw the party wooing the electorate with one promise: stability. The party argued that Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand, formed alongside Jharkhand have seen impressive growth under “stable” governments. It then went on to claim that it was the BJP which can put Jharkhand on the road to development. The BJP pinned the responsibility of Jharkhand’s underdevelopment on the Sorens. In doing so, it was counting upon short public memory as four of the nine governments formed in the state had BJP CMs. To its credit, the BJP had latched on to a genuine grievance of Jharkhandis: the state and its people have often been laughed at for tumbling governments. And it seemed to have some effect. As the campaign evolved, villagers were sometimes heard saying: “They should be given one chance”. After the promise of a stable government, the BJP needed a credible face for the campaign. Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to occupy that space. The party did not risk projecting any state leader for the CM post, probably because it would bring back memories of past failures. Despite the state BJP unit publishing a 56-page manifesto, it was the PM who set the agenda. Besides instability, Modi’s speeches focused on attacking the Sorens and wooing adivasis. The verbal duel between the PM and CM Hemant Soren got personal at times: responding to Modi’s comments about his family’s influence, Hemant said he was sorry the PM did not have children. As for adivasis, Modi was selective. While speaking in dalit-majority Chandwa in Latehar district in the first phase, Modi never mentioned the adivasis. By the fifth phase, when the campaign reached the state’s other corner, Modi was actively wooing the adivasis in Dumka. Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s attacks, Modi said the Congress had forgotten adivasis and added that it needed Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s first government to form a Ministry of Tribal Welfare. Owing to Modi’s magic wand approach, the campaign could avoid focusing on issues like Left wing extremism. Apart from a few perfunctory remarks, Modi did not speak much on the topic. Similarly, the party’s manifesto had only four lines on the rebel problem. The campaign faced a challenge in the final phase of polling in the Santhal Pargana. JMM and Hemant Soren managed to turn the tables briefly there, portraying the BJP as “a party of outsiders”. The party again played its trump card. Modi addressed massive rallies in Dumka and Barhait segments, where Hemant Soren contested from. The BJP knew the PM’s focus on him will lionise CM Soren, but that did not bother its campaign managers. The target was never really the Sorens. It was victory, at any cost.
