On Ekka home turf, NDA’s wrong side

Says Simon Xaxa, Lutheran pastor, residing 300 metres away from civil contractor Ekka’s house, ‘‘He is a good man. We respect his father. I have gone to his house and prayed for his victory. Now I am praying that he does not become the instrument of BJP’s return to power.’’

With Simon Xaxa, a few more articulate tribal Christians like R.M. Horo explained that if Ekka went with the BJP, there would be widespread protests in Kolebira. Horo argued, ‘‘This first victory could be his last one.’’

And in Kolebira, with the Christian population close to 50 per cent, Ekka’s goodwill among the community can only win him polls in the future. This is a seat which has traditionally elected Christians. Ekka defeated the Congress nominee Theodore Kuro, another Christian. Together, they polled more than 60 per cent of the votes in the constituency. The BJP did not even contest this seat knowing it would be treated like an outsider.

Already, Ekka’s friend Lewis Kujur sits in his house and prevents people from speaking to Ekka’s aged father, who does not look happy with his youngest son’s decision. This is a very poor family which has just come into a huge amount of money with Ekka doing well in his civil contractor business. Kujur, sensing the public disapproval, has already started singing a different song, ‘‘Ekka’s support to the NDA will be conditional.’’

Ekka’s elder brother is a tea garden worker in North Bengal and his other brother is an agricultural labourer. His father said : ‘‘I don’t know what my son is doing. He does not listen to me.’’ His wife has disappeared from the Ranchi quarters of her brother where she was residing with her two children. She has wept before television cameras over her husband’s decision.

It is not difficult to make out why the family is disappointed. The tribal Christians are closely bonded. Their recent fears following the rise of fundamentalist forces in middle India have congealed them into an even more close-knit community. Ekka’s father, his wife and his other relatives are all afraid of losing respect in the community.

An amiable, intelligent man in his early forties, Ekka had specifically chosen the Jharkhand Party at the beginning of his political journey because in most parts of Jharkhand it is still regarded as a Christian party because of the religious orientation of its leader, N.E. Horo. Interestingly, he did not take the Jharkhand Party’s symbol, the drum, and was technically not the party’s official nominee. Ekka also wears his Christianity on his sleeve. His newly constructed three-storeyed house with its shining marble floor has huge crosses anchored to the house on the frontage. Pictures of Jesus and Mary abound everywhere in the house.

Father J Lekka, who has preached Christianity with Belgian priests for almost four decades, says ‘‘Ekka probably finds the incentives more alluring than continuing with his political career in Kolebira.’’ He agrees that the saffron forces have not really caused any trouble in these parts but actions elsewhere have helped spread fear. ‘‘There has to be fear after Graham Staines or the Dangs,’’ he adds.

And the echoes of this spreading disenchantment over Ekka’s recent political moves are expressed in other parts of the assembly constituency . In fact, the Roman Catholics have started wondering why the Lutherans are allowing this to happen. Ekka belongs to the Gosner Evangelical Lutheran Church.