Shikaripara, with a majority population of Santhal tribals, will cast its vote in the final phase of elections on December 20. The region witnessed one of the worst crackdowns on tribals protesting against displacement. On December 6, 2008 tribal farmers, Lakhiram Tudu and Saigat Marandi, were killed in police firing in Kathikund. Farmer Shivlal Soren, who was shot in the head, lost his sight. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) president Shibu Soren was the Chief Minister then. The tribal farmers were protesting against 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 for 25 years, Paritosh Soren of Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), and Munni Hansda, a tribal activist fighting on 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 goes around the town and Gandhi maidan showing 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. The film cuts to the ongoing Assembly elections with Mr. Soren speaking of the unfinished work of development for Jharkhand's poor.
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“We had heard that dishomdheer [teacher] Shibu Soren had led the movement against moneylenders to protect the land of tribals and poor farmers. But now, the same leader is giving away farmland to big corporates violating the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act and the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act 1996,” Munni Hansda, dressed in a white full-sleeved woolen blouse and a brown saree, said, addressing tribal and Bhuian Dalit villagers sitting outside their huts in Raebandh in Dumka.
Ms. 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 the Jharkhand Ulgulan Manch, a network of people’s movements.
Ms. Hansda, who led the Kathikund agitation against the CESC, spent seven months and four days in jail in 2008 for opposing the 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 that 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 Trinamool Congress seat.
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