Mail News Service
Jamshedpur, Dec 24: Even to the greatest of BJP baiters, the saffron colour was not expected to be so badly washed out from the Kolhan Region as it happened on the December 23 Assembly �exam result� day. The tale of the day took one back on a trot to nursery rhyme days when he recited �Humpty-Dumpty��
Ever since the creation of Jharkhand 19 winters ago, this was the first time in the annals of the state that the BJP had been blown off all the 14 Assembly seats in Kolhan Region. It will take days and gallons of soothers to face the reality of a political vista that has turned green with no sight of the hitherto all permeating saffron colour.
BJP state president Laxman Gilua from Chakradharpur and IAS Officer-turned-politician JB Tubid lost their bids for a seat in the Ranchi Assembly empire. For Gilua, the woeful tale of his parliamentary bid from the Chaibasa constituency six months earlier continued to chase him in the Vidhan Sabha�2019 elections.
For the records out of the 14 Assembly seats in Kolhan Region, BJP had won five seats in 2005, four in 2009 and five in 2014 but in the 2019 the party�s score sheet remained blank. Chief Minister Raghubar Das put in his total might in Kolhan to keep the BJP flag aloft. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made time out from his busy schedule to address an election rally in Jamshedpur while Chief Minister Raghubar Das did the same in West Singhbhum. In fact the first Vidhan Sabha election bugle was sounded in Kolhan Region�s Chaibasa. The Chief Minister led the BJP battle in the campaign for Assembly occupancy. To add muscle to the saffron campaign star campaigners Amit Shah, Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda, Rajnath Singh, Yogi Adityanath and other party glitterati motivated voters to vote for, ��BJP, vote for development,� but all the efforts went in vain with the test papers adding up to zero.
Such a stunning result benumbs the mind and when it comes back to its senses even mildly, it itches to gloat over the success stories of the past to revive its morale so that it lives to fight another election. In the Assembly polls of 2005, the BJP winners were Putkar Hembram from Chaibasa, Arjun Munda from Kharsawan, Dr Dinesh Sarangi from Baharagora, Saryu Roy from Jamshedpur West and Raghubar Das from Jamshedpur East. The 2009 innings included Barkunwar Gagrai from Majhgaon, Mangal Singh Soy from Kharsawan, Raghubar Das from Jamshedpur East and Menka Sardar from Potka. Similarly, the 2014 Assembly hustings saw Raghubar Das retaining his Jamshedpur East seat, Saryu Roy regaining his Jamshedpur West citadel, Laxman Tudu wresting the Ghatshila seat, Menka Sardar continuing her successful essay in the Potka constituency while Sadhu Charan Mahto stamped the party�s name on the Ichagarh seat.
Winning and losing is a part of the game and the political turf is no exception. It is the impact of the victory that resonates as it is doing now, but this time around the resonance is painted green. The colour has changed in Kolhan as in most of the other Jharkhand Assembly seats. Will the cauldron of expectations be fanned by the fire of development? �Wait and watch� is a never-say-die habit.