When the results of the Jharkhand election are declared on 23 November, Champai Soren is likely to receive some attention. The former chief minister of the state has been one of the most high-profile leaders to have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in recent times. Called the “Tiger of Kolhan,” Champai became the first chief minister from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha from outside the Soren family. He took over the reins after Hemant Soren, the current chief minister and the head of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, was incarcerated.
I met the veteran tribal leader on 16 November as he was headed to the Santhal region, which went to polls on 20 November. His move to the BJP is being seen as a big gain for the party in the Kolhan region, which includes East Singhbhum, Seraikela Kharsawan and West Singhbhum districts. The party did not secure a single seat in the 2019 election. Champai , however, has been a dominant figure in the region , consistently winning the Seraikela seat since Jharkhand’s formation—and even before that, when it was part of Bihar. This time, he faces Ganesh Mahali, who switched from the BJP to the JMM after Champai joined the former. When I asked him if people voted for the candidate or the party, Champai said that the party gets the result. “Is there ever a campaign for an individual?”
Champai is regarded as a more influential leader than Babulal Marandi, who merged his Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) with the BJP, and former chief minister Arjun Munda. “He is the only tribal leader with pan state appeal,” Pratul Shah Deo, BJP’s Jharkhand spokesperson, said.
When Hemant Soren chose Champai, a party veteran, over family for the chief ministerial post it was seen as a very bold and dignified move. Champai served from February to July 2024 and saw the party through the Lok Sabha election. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won nine seats, while JMM managed only three. Its alliance partner Congress won two.
“He was going to give teacher recruitment certificates when he got a call to leave the work and join the legislative party meeting, which was called without his permission as the CM,” one of his aides told me. “As a CM if you are not informed about the legislative party meet how will you feel? Of course insulted.”
Since his move to the BJP, the Soren family’s leaders—Hemant Soren and his wife Kalpana—have refrained from making adverse remarks about him, addressing him as chacha or uncle in media interviews. Deo suggested that Champai’s departure from the JMM reflected his, as well as the ordinary member of a tribal community’s disillusionment with the Soren family’s leadership..
Champai’s son, Babulal Soren also secured a ticket from the BJP from the Ghatsila constituency in the East Singhbhum district. Similarly, other family members of prominent leaders have been nominated by the BJP including Meera Munda, wife of Arjun Munda and Purnima Das, daughter-in-law of former chief minister Raghubar Das. These selections stirred some discontent in the party and a few BJP members resigned.. Deo defended the decision stating that only Babulal’s son got a ticket and that other instances did not symbolise a family fiefdom.
According to Anand Kumar, a senior journalist in Jharkhand, the decision to give leaders’ kin seats was a way to limit them to their seats and end factionalism within the state unit.“The BJP wants to convey that JMM belongs to just one family and they don’t respect tribals. Champai is important for that narrative. He might not be have that impact in this election, though in Kolhan his presence can improve seats for BJP.”
Champai dismissed speculations about discontent over his inclusion in the BJP. “We are all in one party, he said “I have been in politics for 40 years, I am not a new face. If other leaders had an issue, you should ask them about it,” he told me. He said he was now a BJP karyakarta—a party worker—who has forgotten the past insults.
After joining the BJP his tone changed from Jal Jungle Zameen—Water, forests and land—to ghuspaiti, ma, beti—Infiltrator, mother, daughter. “The most important issue facing Jharkhand is that of Bangladeshi infiltrators,” he said during a media interview in the run up to the polls. He had never raised the issue of infiltration prior to joining the BJP.
When I asked him since when this idea of Bangladeshi infiltrators became so important to him, he responded: “It was always there. As I started to tour Santhal, I started receiving complaints.” He added that it wasn’t the case during the time of the Jharkhand statehood movement.
He said he found infiltrators during his chiefd ministerial tenure. I asked if he had thought of repealing the land bank and the acquisition laws introduced by Raghubar Das, which has been used to take land from tribals. “It is not happening. The CNT [Chota Nagpur Tenancy] Act is there. The land banks are on government land, not on tribal land. This false narrative is being circulated by the opposition,” he said.
In August 2024, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam’s chief minister and co-incharge of the Jharkhand election for the BJP, had said that he was in touch with Champai for six months and wanted him to join the BJP. He also said that Champai was under his own government’s surveillance. Local reporters said that the interactions between the two were known to the JMM and was one of the reasons behind Champai’s ouster.
The BJP has not yet projected a chief ministerial choice. A BJP member told me that while Babulal Marandi and Raghubar Das were favoured by Narendra Modi, the prime minister of the country, and Amit Shah, the home minister, Sarma supports Champai. They said that Sarma is backing Amar Kumar Bauri as well. Bauri, who is the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, is contesting from the SC reserved seat Chandankiyari and can have an impact during the Bihar state election, scheduled for next year.
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