Das is likely to join the BJP in the next few days in the presence of state organisational general secretary Karamveer, regional organisational general secretary Nagendra Tripathi and state membership drive in-charge Rakesh Prasad.
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Speaking to ThePrint Thursday, Das said: “It’s up to the BJP leadership to decide my role in the organisation”.
“When I had joined the BJP in 1980, whether I worked at the booth level, the mandal level or the state level, or was national vice-president, it was the party that decided the role for me. When the party asked me to lead Jharkhand as CM, I served the people. When the party asked me to be governor, I served in Odisha. It’s entirely up to the party to utilise me,” he added.
Prior to the Jharkhand polls, Das, an OBC leader, had given indications of wanting to return to state politics, but the BJP leadership was wary, as he was viewed as having alienated a large section of tribals during his tenure as CM from 2014 to 2019.
Das had even met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in August to discuss his return to Jharkhand, a BJP source had told ThePrint. The leadership, however, did not agree to field him in the polls keeping the tribal factor in mind. The BJP instead chose Das’s daughter-in-law Purnima Sahu to contest from Jamshedpur East seat, which she won.
Das’s rivals in the state unit are also believed to have made efforts to stall his return there.
But all that stands changed now in the face of the BJP’s second consecutive defeat in Jharkhand. According to party functionaries, reservations against Das are diluted and the BJP’s new priority is to protect its OBC and non-tribal vote-bank and build the organisation in the state for the next five years.
Speaking to ThePrint, a Jharkhand BJP functionary said: “Earlier, there was concern that Raghubar Das’s homecoming will alienate tribals, but in the changed circumstances, there is a need to build the party and fight on the street for the next five years against Hemant Soren’s (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) government.”
“We could not win seats in the tribal belt and now we have to protect our core vote-bank of non-tribals and OBCs. Since Das has served as CM and governor, whether he fits into the state president’s role or in the party’s national organisation, it all depends on the central leadership’s outlook and how it wants to balance the leadership role among tribals and non-tribals,” he asserted.
Speaking about Das, a Jharkhand vice-president of the party termed him a “big OBC leader who is very close to the BJP high command”.
“Whether he will be in the state, or get a Rajya Sabha seat to take a central role, or become the BJP’s national president, it’s all up to the party leadership to decide. However, since his resignation from the governor’s post came soon after the party’s defeat in Jharkhand, it’s certain that the BJP leadership has taken a serious view of the state poll debacle,” he said.
Political compulsions & rivalry
After two back-to-back defeats in the 2019 and 2024 assembly polls, the BJP has lost a major vote base, that of tribals and certain sections of the OBCs. Efforts to win over the tribal vote bank have not produced dividends despite tribal face Babulal Marandi being the party’s state unit chief.
The BJP now has to recalibrate the caste balancing strategy, and if it picks the leader of the opposition from the tribal community, then it will have to choose a non-tribal as state president, and vice-versa.
Once the ongoing state unit polls of the BJP end, a new state president will be chosen. Incumbent Marandi is said to be looking to become leader of the Opposition, while the other contender for the that post is Champai Soren, also a tribal leader who won in the state polls. Das could then be accommodated as state president or be given a national role.
Jharkhand BJP working president Ravindra Rai told ThePrint that the party “can’t just abandon the 28 percent tribal population (in the state), so will see how both tribal and non-tribal sections can be adjusted in leadership role”.
Sahu, Das’s daughter-in-law who has been elected as MLA from Jamshedpur East seat that he represented for five straight terms, told ThePrint that “we are very happy that he is taking a lead role in Jharkhand politics, as the state unit needs strong leadership. The workers are eagerly awaiting his role”.
She added that she would be happy to resign from the seat and make way for Das in case of bypolls.
Das also has to contend with the rival camps in the state unit, comprising former CM Arjun Munda on one side, and Marandi and Godda MP Nishikant Dubey on the other.
According to party sources, these leaders are jittery at the prospect of Das’s return but their stake has now been diluted after the poll loss. The fact that the BJP’s central leadership gave the green signal for Das’s resignation as governor establishes that the party is looking to recalibrate its Jharkhand strategy, they said.
The sources also pointed out that since Marandi is on a visit to Delhi, he was not likely to be present when Das takes up the BJP membership.
In late September, Dubey had put out a post on X saying that Das “will keep guiding the new government in Odisha”.
“There is no confusion in the BJP, as the central leadership has appointed Raghubar ji as Governor of Odisha. For the first time, we have our own government in Odisha. Raghubar ji has experience of being minister, chief minister, state president of the party. Hence, he will keep guiding the new government in Odisha,” he had written.
Das’ trajectory in Jharkhand
Das, the first non-tribal CM of Jharkhand, was in 2014 a surprise pick for the top post in the state, where an estimated 28 percent of the population is tribal. Another 45 percent of people are estimated to be from the OBC groups, which have largely backed the BJP in the state.
Soon after the state’s formation in 2000, during the Vajpayee era, the BJP had kept the top post of CM for a tribal. First, Marandi was made CM, and later Munda. Das was deputy CM when the BJP was in alliance with the JMM in 2009 and Shibu Soren was CM. He also served in the Marandi and Munda cabinets, but once Modi became PM in 2014, the BJP leadership picked Das to lead Jharkhand that year.
During his tenure, Das tried to consolidate his OBC vote-bank but ended up facing opposition from the tribal community. The state government’s (unsuccessful) attempts to amend the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act and Santhal Parganas Tenancy Act, which restrict the sale of tribal land to non-tribals, led to disgruntlement in the tribal community, which believed the government was trying to grab their land.
The BJP lost the assembly polls to the JMM in 2019 and won only two of 28 seats reserved for tribals in the state. The JMM that year consolidated tribal votes on the promise of implementing a proposed law commonly known as the 1932 Khatiyan Bill—which would use identity and land records from 1932 as the state’s domicile criteria—as well as a separata Sarna religious code.
In the Lok Sabha polls this year, the BJP lost all five tribal seats in the state and in the assembly polls last month, it won only one of the 28 reserved seats while the JMM-led alliance swept the rest.
A former Jharkhand BJP chief spoke about the party’s failed efforts to win in the state and its political compulsions.
“In the last five years, the BJP has done everything to bring back tribal voters. Marandi was given a free hand in the state, while several tribal leaders were inducted, but the community backed the JMM in the polls. Even Munda lost in the Lok Sabha elections and his wife lost in the assembly elections. Only Champai Soren won back his seat. All other candidates he had backed lost. Amit Shah himself promised to look into the demand for Sarna as a separate religious code but nothing worked,” he said.
“How will any argument of these (rival) leaders against Das’s return work now? It’s true that his government had alienated tribals but now our non-tribal base is threatened too,” he told ThePrint.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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