Sixth time unlucky?

Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren has shown he has the numbers. The political drama set off by the trust vote in Delhi has ended with the trust vote in Ranchi. Or has it, really? So naked have been the quid pro quos in the political drama 8212; which began with the JMM casting its lot with the UPA government in Parliament on July 22, and led to its chief getting back Jharkhand8217;s chief ministerial chair in return, after pulling down the incumbent government with the help of a series of political somersaults in full public view by notable dramatis personae 8212; that hopes of a decent closure or a new beginning seem naiuml;ve or farfetched or both. For those determined to find silver linings, though, here8217;s one: the land of Birsa Munda has a political party ruling it once more, not a bunch of footloose political entrepreneurs. A JMM-led government has replaced the regime of Madhu Koda, Independent MLA.

But that8217;s small comfort, indeed, for this state, only eight years old. It8217;s not just that the Guruji-led JMM never really fulfilled its promise of responsive tribal leadership, or that it is still to live down the infamy it has gathered ever since its MPs first caught the national imagination when they were bribed by Narasimha Rao to save his government in 1993. The configuration in the Jharkhand assembly after the 2005 elections has ensured that the political initiative has squarely passed into the hands of the independent MLA. The fourth government sworn in since 2005 8212; the sixth since the state8217;s birth in 2000 8212; is also likely to be held hostage to his whim. Jharkhand8217;s aspirations for an accountable government that can employ its enormous mineral reserves to enrich the state, not just itself, are unlikely to be met.

It need not have turned out this way. And it cannot all be blamed on the fractured mandate. The national political parties in Jharkhand, be it the BJP or the Congress, have acquiesced in the paring down of politics and governance in the state to this bald and fluctuating numbers game. Jharkhand8217;s band of independents could not have done it alone.