New Delhi: Jairam ‘Tiger’ Mahato, the 29-year-old PhD student who emerged as a prominent OBC face in Jharkhand after securing more than 3.47 lakh votes in Giridih Lok Sabha constituency as an Independent, emerged victorious in one of two assembly seats where he was on the ballot. The key takeaway, however, was that candidates fielded by Mahato’s party dented the prospects of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ally All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) in at least 6 of 10 seats where it was in the fray.
Jairam Mahato himself won in Dumri and lost in Bermo.
OBC politics in Jharkhand, where the tribal community accounts for 26 percent of the population (2011 Census), has largely been shaped by Sudesh Mahto—president of AJSU. The emergence of Jairam Mahato as a Kurmi leader poses a direct challenge not just to AJSU but also the JD(U), another BJP ally which enjoys the support of Kurmis, given that party chief and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar belongs to the community. Going by unofficial estimates, Kurmis make up 12-14 percent of Jharkhand’s population.
Jairam Mahato’s Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM) has been viewed as jostling for the same votes as the AJSU. The JLKM has fielded candidates in 71 assembly seats, while AJSU is in the fray in 10.
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Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha
In Dumri, the contest boiled down to Jairam Mahato and Bebi Devi of the JMM, with AJSU’s Yashoda Devi in third place. Jagarnath Mahato had won the seat for the JMM in 2019, defeating AJSU’s Yashoda Devi. Jairam Mahto won the seat this time with 94,496 votes, ahead of Bebi Devi with 83,551 votes—a winning margin of 10,945 votes.
In Bermo, it was a three-cornered fight between Kumar Jaimangal of the Congress, Jairam Mahato and BJP’s Ravindra Kumar Pandey. Rajendra Singh of the Congress won the seat in 2019, defeating Yogeshwar Mahto of the BJP by a margin of more than 25,000 votes. This time, Jairam Mahato lost to Congress’s Jaimangal by a margin of 29,375 votes.
In Ramgarh, another seat important for the JLKM since the Mahato community accounts for an estimated 40 percent of the population there, Paneshwar Kumar of the JLKM played spoilsport for Sunita Choudhary of the AJSU—securing 70,979 votes in a seat where the margin of victory between the AJSU and Congress candidate was 6,790.
A similar scenario played out in Gomia, where Puja Kumari of the JLKM finished second after JMM’s Yogendra Prasad, pushing Lambodar Mahto of the AJSU to third position. In Ichagarh, too, the JLKM candidate secured 40,412 votes—as against the margin of victory of 13,531 votes between the winning JMM candidate and the runners-up, of the AJSU.
Similarly, in Jugsalai, JMM’s Mangal Kalindi defeated his nearest rival, Ram Chandra Sahis of the AJSU, by a margin of 43,125 votes while JLKM’s Binod Swansi came in third with 36,698 votes. Even in Silli, where AJSU chief Sudesh Mahto was in the fray, the JLKM candidate secured 41,129 votes, as against a margin of victory of 23,879 votes between the winning JMM candidate and Sudesh Mahto.
In a few other seats, too, JLKM helped the INDIA bloc consolidate its wins. Mandu and Seraikella were among the seats where JLKM ended up denting the prospects of the INDIA bloc. JLKM also played spoilsport for BJP in Kharsawan and Khijri, and for JD(U) in Tamar.
The rise of Jairam Mahato
Jairam Mahato first came into the limelight in 2022 when he and other activists launched an agitation against the government’s decision to include Bhojpuri and Magahi in the list of regional languages in 11 districts. They said inclusion of these languages for district-level employment exams conducted by the state staff selection commission would allow non-domiciles to permanently settle in the state. The JMM eventually gave in to the demand and rolled back the notification for Bokaro and Dhanbad.
Mahato also raised the demand for implementation of the 1932 Khatiyan (land settlement) policy that allows the government to consider land records of 1932 as the criteria to verify who can be considered domicile of Jharkhand. He garnered attention by voicing the concerns of locals–particularly lack of opportunities for the youth.
What helped him gain a following was that, unlike most other politicians, Jairam Mahato posted videos on YouTube, wore a T-shirt in public and made speeches from the bonnet of his car.
In the Lok Sabha polls, Mahato contested from Giridih and fielded candidates in at least seven seats: Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Kodarma, Dhanbad, Singhbhum, Dumka and Chatra. While none of the candidates were able to secure a win, they did secure a sizeable number of votes in three seats.
However, Mahato came under attack after the general election when two of the cnadidates he had fielded as Independents switched to the JMM while accusing him of cornering the second line of leadership in the party.
In September, party vice president Sanjay Mehta—who was in the fray from Hazaribagh in the Lok Sabha polls—resigned from the party, accusing Mahato of sidelining him. Mehta went on to float a new political outfit.
Mahato’s meteoric rise in Jharkhand’s political scene was marked by a number of other controversies. In September, he invited criticism for his remarks that corrupt civil servants should be pushed off the Parasnath mountain range. He was also criticised by tribal organisations for allegedly placing a Sarna gamcha under his feet.
While on the campaign trail, Mahato had attacked the JMM for taking credit for the Maiya Samman Yojana. “Kalpana Soren repeatedly says they are giving Rs 1,000 each under the Maiya Samman Yojana. It seems as if they have given us alms … I want to tell the chief minister and his wife there are four MLAs in your family, three should resign.”
Mahato has cultivated his image as a rebel leader to break the cycle of conventional politics, like Chandra Shekhar Aazad, but how far he will go will depend on whether he manages not to deviate from raising the issues of thje people or making compromises in the short run, a BJP leader from Jharkhand told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
Harishwar Dayal, a professor at the Institute for Human Development (IHD) in Ranchi, “Mahato has appeal among young voters since he always raises the issue of unemployment and how locals have been denied opportunities. Since AJSU was seen as a party that aligned with the ruling dispensation, Mahato can create space among OBC voters. But in the long run, he will have to concentrate on building up cadres and an organisation.”
“Fiery speeches by themselves don’t always helps in the long run. There is a huge space for the party in the OBC block since most parties have fought for the tribal vote in Jharkhand in the past,” Dayal added.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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