Delimitation Rally: Congress challenges JMM’s tribal stronghold, puts BJP on alert
SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA Ranchi, August 31: The massive tribal Mahajutan rally in Ranchi, organised by Congress leader and former minister Bandhu Tirkey…
SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, August 31: The massive tribal Mahajutan rally in Ranchi, organised by Congress leader and former minister Bandhu Tirkey over the proposed delimitation exercise, was much more than a show of strength. It was an attempt by the Congress to reclaim political space among Jharkhand’s tribal electorate by turning delimitation into a larger battle over representation, constitutional rights, and the state’s future political balance.
The immediate target of the Congress campaign may be any possible reduction in Scheduled Tribe-reserved constituencies after delimitation. Still, the political implications reach both sides of the state’s established tribal divide. For the JMM, which has traditionally occupied the position of the “big brother” in tribal politics, the turnout should be a wake-up call. For the BJP, which is struggling to rebuild its support among tribal voters, it is a warning that its counter-narrative has so far failed to match the political messaging emerging from the Congress-led mobilisation.
Congress turns delimitation into a political weapon
The Congress appears to have identified an issue capable of bringing different sections of the tribal electorate onto one platform. Its central argument is straightforward: any delimitation exercise that changes the demographic basis of representation could have consequences for the number of constituencies reserved for Scheduled Tribes.
The issue has resonance because questions of changing demography, land rights, political representation and constitutional safeguards have increasingly become part of Jharkhand’s political discourse. The Mahajutan allowed the Congress to present itself as a party willing to fight against any dilution of tribal representation.
More importantly, the Congress has tried to transform what could otherwise remain a technical constitutional exercise into a question of political survival.
Will Jharkhand’s tribal communities retain their existing share of political representation after delimitation?
That is the question the Congress wants voters to ask.
By placing it at the centre of a massive public mobilisation, the party has made it increasingly difficult for both the JMM and BJP to remain on the sidelines.
Why JMM has more reason to worry
The biggest political takeaway from the rally may actually be for the JMM.
The party has dominated Jharkhand’s tribal politics for decades, drawing strength from the legacy of the separate-state movement and the political influence of the Soren family. The JMM currently has 27 MLAs in the 81-member Assembly, while it won three Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 general election, including the Scheduled Tribe-reserved Rajmahal and Singhbhum constituencies. The INDIA bloc won five of Jharkhand’s 14 Lok Sabha seats.
This is precisely why the Congress mobilisation should not be viewed simply as another anti-BJP rally.
A political watcher said the scale of the gathering should worry the JMM more than the BJP.
The JMM has played the role of the big brother in the ruling coalition and has often sought to drive the political agenda. But if the Congress succeeds in establishing itself as the principal defender of tribal political representation, it could gradually begin eating into the JMM’s traditional support space.
That possibility becomes particularly important because the Congress has historically enjoyed substantial support among Christian tribals, especially in parts of southern and central Jharkhand. A section of that electorate has shifted towards the JMM over the years.
The Mahajutan suggests that the Congress is now trying to reopen that political channel.
Soren skips rally, but sends political message
Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s decision to stay away from the rally added another interesting dimension.
The organisers had invited Soren to attend the Mahajutan as the chief guest. He, however, skipped the event and instead sent JMM MLA Vikas Munda, who read out the Chief Minister’s message.
The message made it clear that Soren broadly shared the organisers’ concern over delimitation. He vowed to remain united in the fight to prevent any reduction in Scheduled Tribe-reserved seats and recalled that tribal unity had helped stop the delimitation process in 2007.
Politically, it was a carefully calibrated move.
By staying away from a Congress-led platform, Soren avoided allowing the Congress to claim a joint political victory. At the same time, by sending a supportive message through his MLA, he ensured that the JMM was not seen as being opposed to the demand for protecting reserved representation.
The balancing act also underlined the complicated relationship between the coalition partners.
The Congress wanted to establish that it could independently mobilise tribal opinion. The JMM, meanwhile, could hardly afford to oppose an agitation presented as a fight to protect tribal political representation.
Soren’s absence therefore does not mean political distance from the issue. Rather, it shows the sensitivity of the delimitation question for the JMM.
Bandhu Tirkey’s rally sends a message to Congress too
The Mahajutan was not only a challenge to the JMM and BJP. It also carried a message for the Congress’s own central and state leadership.
Much of the mobilisation was attributed to Bandhu Tirkey, who has sought a larger role in the state Congress organisation. Tirkey was himself in the race for the post of Jharkhand Congress president before Keshav Mahto Kamlesh was appointed to the position.
The turnout consequently raises a question within the Congress: does the party’s organisational leadership have the ability to mobilise such a crowd on its own, or does it need leaders with a strong grassroots connection such as Tirkey?
His political journey gives the rally an additional dimension. Tirkey served as a legislator and minister but was subsequently disqualified after his conviction in a corruption case. His disqualification eventually paved the way for his daughter, Shilpi Neha Tirkey, to enter electoral politics and become a minister.
The Mahajutan has now once again placed Bandhu Tirkey at the centre of Jharkhand’s political conversation.
For the Congress leadership, his mobilisation capacity can either become an organisational asset or develop into an independent centre of influence within the party.
BJP’s tribal challenge
The rally also presents a serious problem for the BJP.
The party has been making efforts to regain the tribal support base it lost in Jharkhand. But its electoral position in reserved constituencies remains weak.
The BJP currently has only one Scheduled Tribe-reserved Assembly seat, while in the 2024 Lok Sabha election it lost all five Scheduled Tribe-reserved parliamentary constituencies in Jharkhand.
Against this backdrop, the Congress’s attempt to establish a direct emotional and political connection with tribal voters through delimitation deserves attention.
The BJP cannot simply dismiss the rally as a Congress event backed by the Church.
Several Sarna tribals also participated in the mobilisation, suggesting that the delimitation issue may have a wider appeal beyond the Christian tribal electorate traditionally associated with the Congress in parts of the state.
This is perhaps the most important political warning for the BJP.
Church backing becomes BJP’s counterpoint
The Church’s open involvement in the mobilisation has provided the BJP with a natural line of attack.
The Archbishop of Ranchi had reportedly appealed to believers to participate in the rally. Babulal Marandi subsequently alleged that people were threatened with fines for not attending and played an audio clip in support of his allegation.
The Church’s role is politically significant because Christian tribals have historically been an important Congress constituency in Jharkhand.
But the BJP risks missing the larger political message if it reduces the entire rally to Church involvement.
A political watcher said the BJP should have directly attacked what it viewed as the Church’s alleged involvement in Jharkhand politics while simultaneously offering a stronger political response to the delimitation issue.
“The BJP cannot hide behind the argument that this was merely a Church-sponsored gathering,” the observer said, pointing to the participation of Sarna tribals as evidence that the issue may have travelled beyond one religious or social constituency.
Babulal shifts the debate to demography
Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi held a press conference after the rally and sought to counter the Congress narrative by focusing on demography, migration, land and identity.
Marandi attacked the Congress, missionaries and the Hemant Soren government over what he described as the changing demographic profile of Jharkhand. He cited Census figures to claim that the Scheduled Tribe population share had declined from 35.38 per cent in 1951 to 26.20 per cent in 2011, while the Muslim population increased from 8.9 per cent to 14.53 per cent.
He also raised concerns over demographic changes in Santhal Pargana and alleged encroachment on tribal land.
Politically, Marandi’s intervention ensured that the Congress rally was immediately followed by a BJP narrative built around demographic change, migration, land and identity.
But the larger challenge for the BJP remains: can these issues be converted into an effective political narrative that resonates with tribal voters?
Congress links delimitation with MMDR
The Congress has another potential weapon in its arsenal—the MMDR Amendment Act.
The party has sought to link its opposition to the changes in mining law with broader concerns over tribal interests in mineral-rich Jharkhand. The JMM too has vowed to launch an unprecedented battle against the amendments, but its response so far has appeared slower than the political rhetoric surrounding the issue.
This creates space for the Congress.
If it succeeds in connecting delimitation, tribal representation, land rights, mineral resources and constitutional safeguards into one coherent campaign, the party could build a broader political narrative rather than relying solely on traditional Congress vote banks.
A wake-up call for both rivals
The Mahajutan has not altered Jharkhand’s political equations overnight. The JMM remains the dominant force in tribal politics, while the BJP retains a powerful statewide organisation.
But the rally has demonstrated that the Congress can still mobilise a sizeable section of the electorate when it finds an issue capable of cutting across conventional party lines.
For the JMM, the warning is clear: its status as the unquestioned “big brother” of tribal politics cannot be taken for granted.
For the BJP, the message is equally sharp: attacking the Congress and the Church will not by itself rebuild its tribal support base. It needs a compelling counter-narrative of its own.
And for the Congress, Bandhu Tirkey’s Mahajutan offers a potentially powerful political template—turn delimitation into a question of representation, representation into an issue of identity and constitutional rights, and those concerns into electoral mobilisation.
The real battle may only have begun.
