WITH JHARKHAND VOTING in about two weeks, women leaders of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led alliance―with Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s wife, Kalpana, at the forefront―have been on a yatra across the state to reach out to women voters. The centrepiece of the yatra is the Mukhyamantri Maiya Samman Yojana (MMSY), a scheme in which the government would transfer Rs2,500 a month to the accounts of poor women.
Notably, the amount was earlier Rs1,000, but the Soren government hiked it on October 14, a day before the Model Code of Conduct kicked in, and said it would take effect in December. The message is that the women will get more money if the JMM-led alliance retains power.
The idea is to project the Soren government as one that treats women with respect and is sensitive to their needs. This is evident in Kalpana’s speeches; she describes her husband as a son and a brother of the women of Jharkhand and seeks their blessings for him.
“Since the formation of Jharkhand, only the Hemant Soren government has thought of respecting the work that the women do by giving them financial assistance,”Kalpana said at a rally.
Soren has had a little over four months after he returned to the chief minister’s chair; he was in jail on charges of corruption and got bail in late June. Under pressure to make an impact, Soren has turned to women. The MMSY, which covers those aged 18 to 50, targets more than 48 lakh women. So far, three instalments have been disbursed; the first instalment was transferred on August 18, a day before raksha bandhan.
The importance of women lies in their socio-economic status and voter statistics. Jharkhand, despite being rich in minerals, continues to be one of the poorest states. According to the National Family Health Survey for 2019-21, the largest percentage of a state’s population with multidimensional poverty is in Bihar, at 33.76 per cent, followed by Jharkhand at 28.81 per cent. Also, Jharkhand has among the highest rates of migration in the country, with a large proportion of men leaving in search of jobs. This is seen as a major reason for more women voting than men.
Lotus for ladies: A BJP rally in West Singhbhum district | PTI
As per Election Commission data, Jharkhand has 2.6 crore voters, of which 1.29 crore are women. In the Lok Sabha elections this year, in 12 of 14 constituencies―Jamshedpur and Ranchi being the exceptions―more women turned out than men.
The BJP, for its part, has promised Rs2,100 a month to women (before the ruling alliance upped it to Rs2,500), and has been distributing forms seeking details of potential beneficiaries. The Gogo Didi Scheme was among the BJP’s ‘paanch pran’(five resolutions) announced as a preliminary manifesto.
The ruling alliance has accused the BJP of flouting Election Commission guidelines by distributing the forms, saying it amounted to seeking voter details on the pretext of a scheme. This, said the JMM-led alliance, must be seen as a corrupt practice under the Representation of the People Act.
In return, state BJP president Babulal Marandi described the Soren couple as ‘Bunty aur Babli’, a reference to a Hindi movie in which the lead duo are con artists. “In the past five years, the duo has looted the people of Jharkhand,”he said. “The JMM has been reduced to a family-run party and it will lose badly in the elections.”
The BJP has also claimed that the ruling party’s yatra was a result of its fear of the saffron party’s Parivartan Yatra, which saw many senior national leaders participate.
The ruling alliance has questioned the BJP’s sincerity with regard to implementing the proposed Gogo Didi scheme. “The BJP has not lived up to the promises made in the states where it is in power,”said Jharkhand Agriculture Minister Dipika Pandey Singh, who is part of the JMM’s yatra. “Just as the promise of Rs15 lakh in every account turned out to be false, the forms being filled for the Gogo Didi Scheme will similarly be thrown in the trash can.”