JMM on slippery ground

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha JMM is at risk of losing its first and only Lok Sabha seat in Orissa. Five years ago,when a young and energetic Sudam Marndi....

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha JMM is at risk of losing its first and only Lok Sabha seat in Orissa. Five years ago,when a young and energetic Sudam Marndi was elected,this tribal-dominated constituency bordering Jharkhand expected him to change their poverty-stricken lives. Marndi had played the son of the soil card well promising a whole new world that saw him defeat Bhagirathi Majhi of the BJP by a slender margin of 7,922 votes.

But today,hope has turned to disillusionment as many across the constituency feel Marndi,like other politicians they elected earlier,had failed to deliver to the people whose main source of sustenance are forest produce. Also,people are peeved with him for his call to include Mayurbhanj in the Greater Jharkhand plan.

The general mood is that Mayurbhanj has not seen any of the progress the rest of Orissa is experiencing. While politicians have promised the tribals everything,ranging from irrigation facilities,medical college and hospital,industries and central university,none of that has materialised. The tribal populace comprising mostly Hos and Santhalis are asking whether they deserve a better future than simply keep on stitching sal leaves for a living.

To Suna Murmu,a tribal woman in Karanjia Assembly seat,the key issues are economic independence,steady income and drinking water. We collect sal leaves from the forests only three months a year. The rest of the year we manage somehow. The forests are also slowly running out of sal leaves. How long can we go on like this, she asks.

In Bangiriposi daily market,Sika Ho,a tribal selling forest produce like lac,says,I dont have a BPL house. In 2004,the local MLA promised me that I would get one after election. I am still waiting.

Marndi,possibly not taking any chances,is also contesting from the Bangiriposi Assembly constituency,which is considered a safe seat for the JMM. The Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha constituency and the seven Assembly constituencies in it go to polls on Thursday.

For the LS seat,Marndi is pitted mainly against the BJPs 51-year-old Draupadi Murmu although the BJD has also fielded a candidate. With Marndi battling anti-incumbency,people in the district are not averse to testing Murmu,a former minister and MLA from Rairangpur Assembly constituency.

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For tribals,the main issues are economic independence and education. I tell my voters to see my work in Rairangpur and judge me by my work, says Murmu,who herself was educated in distant Bhubaneswar.