TMC seeks to regain lost ground in Jangalmahal, former Maoist bastion

The Jangalmahal region spread across West Midnapore, Purulia, Bankura, and Jhargram districts in poll-bound West Bengal was a Maoist stronghold before Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress

(TMC) stormed to power first in 2011. Banerjee promised better governance in the area, which has a sizeable tribal population and has been designated as a backward area since Independence.

She created the Jhargram district in April 2017 by splitting West Midnapore and formed separate welfare boards for tribal communities such as the Santhals, Lodhas, and Kurmis. Banerjee also

gave official recognition to the Ol Chiki language of the region besides building roads, hospitals, schools, and polytechnic colleges.

But residents say rampant unemployment cost TMC support in the region in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP made significant gains in the region by winning five Lok Sabha seats here. It

emerged as the second biggest party in the state and won 18 of West Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats.

West Bengal’s 5.29 million people from scheduled tribes as per the 2011 census accounted for about the state’s 5.8% population.

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TMC is wooing them as it seeks to reclaim the lost ground in the region. It has invited Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, a prominent tribal leader, to campaign in the region. Banerjee,

who on Tuesday addressed a rally in the tribal Para area in the Purulia district, said Soren will again campaign for the TMC. “The BJP lost the Jharkhand polls. If elections are free and

fair, it [BJP] will end up playing dugdugi [pellet drum in West Bengal too],” she said.

Birbaha Hansda, the TMC’s candidate from Jhargram, accused the BJP of bribing voters and using unfair means to win tribal votes.

Lack of employment avenues may continue to hurt the TMC in the region, residents said. Upen Murmu, 55, a tribal Santhali from Lalgarh, said he makes a living by selling ropes made of wild

grass whose demand has dipped over the years. He said he makes around ₹250-300 weekly as he lamented the life that has not changed much since his younger days.

The BJP is trying to consolidate its position and has among others deputed actor Mithun Chakraborty, one of its star campaigners, to campaign and lead his roadshows at Chhatna, Saltora,

Raipur, and Jhargram in the tribal region on Thursday.

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Union home minister Amit Shah is also scheduled to address rallies in the region the same day.

The TMC has sharpened its outsider narrative against Shah since he garlanded a wrong statue while paying tribute to iconic tribal leader Birsa Munda in Bankura district in November.

Realising their mistake at the last minute, BJP workers placed a framed image of Munda at the base of the statue for Shah to garland. The TMC has targeted Shah for being ignorant of Bengal’s

culture and insulting Munda by placing his image at someone else’s feet.

The incident did not go down well with the tribal people, said Mahadeb Murmu, a resident of Lalgarh. “Videos of the incident went viral in the Jangalmahal area,” he said.

The issue of Sarna has also had the BJP worried. Tribal groups, including some having bases in the neighbouring Jharkhand, want Sarna, which is distinct from Hinduism, to be recognised as a

separate religion. Sarna followers worship nature instead of idols. In 2020, the Jharkhand assembly passed a special resolution and sent it to the Centre, seeking a separate religion code

for the tribal population.

Residents said Union minister Arjun Munda, a tribal leader, did not speak a word on the Sarna issue during his recent campaigns in Bengal.

BJP’s Khagen Murmu, who won the Malda North Lok Sabha seat in 2019 and heads his party’s tribal wing in West Bengal, accused a section of tribal leaders of misleading the masses over Sarna

and telling them to vote for the TMC.

Like the Santhals, who are in majority in most parts of the region, the Kurmis, too, are apprehensive about the political scenario. Two leaders of the Kurmi Sammanyay Mancha are contesting

the elections without being part of mainstream forces represented by people from higher castes.

“Big parties only make short-term promises before elections. The Kurmi population in Bengal stands at around 0.5 million. In Jhargram district’s Gopiballavpur constituency, from where I am

contesting, the TMC and BJP have fielded Kurmi candidates,” said Ashok Mahata.

“Sarna is linked to our right to jal, jangal and jomi [water, jungle, and land].”

People from the Bhumij tribe are also contesting elections. Their leader, Shib Shankar Singh, is contesting the Bandoan seat in Purulia as an independent nominee.