Dissecting Low-Key Congress Campaigns in Jharkhand Elections

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Congress Strategically Stayed in Shadow of JMM: Expert

By Raisina Correspondent

Ranchi, November 18: Intense election campaigns for the Jharkhand Assembly polls finally came to an end on Monday evening. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi addressed six public meetings each in Jharkhand.

The Congress is a junior partner in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) led alliance in the state. The Congress had won 16 Assembly seats in the 2019 Assembly elections in Jharkhand.

“The Congress is a weak link in Jharkhand. The Congress has given suggestions of the party going into the Assembly elections unprepared. The Congress campaign strategy was also lacking in coherence,” said senior political observer Amit Kumar.

But Prafulla Singh, Daltonganj-based political observer, disagreed, as he argued that the Congress being a junior partner has proportionately kept campaign focus lesser in the state. “The Congress is contesting on just 30 Assembly seats in Jharkhand. The BJP in contrast is contesting on 67 Assembly seats. Thus, the Congress campaign intensity is incomparable with the BJP in Jharkhand,” added Singh.

Besides Rahul Gandhi, the Congress president Mallikarjuna Kharge campaigned in Jharkhand. “The Congress could release the party manifesto just a day before the elections for the first phase. At the same time, the public meetings of the top two leaders of the Congress lacked the intensity,” added Kumar.

The burden of the campaign for the ruling alliance in the state fell on incumbent chief minister Hemant Soren and his wife Kalpana Soren. Hemant Soren addressed as many as 91 public meetings during the election campaign. Kalpana Soren logged in the highest number of public meetings in Jharkhand as she held 98 rallies.

“The Congress may have as a part of strategy let the JMM leadership lead the elections to focus the polls on the local issues. This could have been a strategy to force the BJP to contest the elections on the local issues,” added Singh.

The BJP raised big issues such as influx of the illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Jharkhand. The BJP leaders also claimed that the tribal identity is in danger as the Bangladeshi Muslims are marrying tribal women.

“The BJP campaign was majorly on Maa, Roti, Maati (women, livelihood, and local identity). The JMM kept focus on the state specific issues,” added Kumar.

Singh argued that the Congress may have maintained a low-key campaign to avoid the Assembly elections turning in Jharkhand into a contest between the two national parties. “The BJP will have preferred an intense Congress campaign. But the Congress stayed in the shadow of the JMM leadership,” added Singh.

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