Shikaripara, with a majority population of Santhal tribals, will cast its vote in the final phase of elections on December 20. The area earned the reputation of being the site of one of the worst state repression of a movement against displacement when tribal farmers Lakhiram Tudu and Saigat Marandi were killed in police firing in Kathikund on December 6, 2008.
Farmer Shivlal Soren, who was shot in the head later lost his sight. Jharkhand mukti Morcha (JMM) President Shibu Soren was then the Chief Minister. The tribal farmers had been protesting the setting up of a thermal power plant by Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC).
The contest on Saturday is between JMM's Nalin Soren who has held the seat since 25 years, Paritosh Soren of Babulal Marandi's Jharkand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), and Munni Hansda, a tribal activist fighting on a Marxist Coordination Committee (MCC) ticket. The BJP is backing Lok Janshakti Party candidate Shivdhan Murmu.
In district capital Dumka, a JMM stronghold, a mini-truck fitted with a large screen makes the round of the town and Gandhi maidan showcasing a film on JMM president Shibu Soren's struggle against usury and displacement, and how it culminated in a demand for a separate tribal state of Jharkhand. The film cuts to the ongoing assembly elections with Shibu Soren speaking of unfinished work, of development for Jharkhand's poor.
“We had heard that dishomdheer (teacher) Shibu Soren had led the movement against moneylenders to preserve tribals and poor farmers' land. But now, the same leader is giving away farmland to big corporates violating the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, and Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act 1996,” Munni Hansda, dressed in a white full-sleeved woolen blouse and a brown saree, addressed tribal and Bhuian dalit villagers sitting outside their huts in Raebandh in Dumka. Hansda, in her late 30s, was brought up by her mother Subah Hembrom, a Santhal farmer. She studied till high school in Kathikund, before beginning social work, first with NGOs and then with Jharkhand Ulgulan Manch, a network of people's movements.
Hansda who led the Kathikund agitation against CESC spent seven months and four days in jail in 2008 for opposing CESC's power plant. “When we waged a struggle for our land, Nalin Soren and Shibu Soren got us arrested. They said they will get us jailed in Maoist-cases. That is when I realised, this is Shibu Soren's politics, and to fight for our constitutional rights, we need to fight for power,” said Hansda, who got 4.3 percent of the votes when she contested the 2009 assembly elections on a Trinamul Congress seat.
MLA Nalin Soren, who is an accused for his role in Rs 45-crore seed scam while he was Agriculture Minister in Madhu Koda's Government in 2009, had won by a huge margin of 28.3 per cent votes in 2009.
