Jharkhand Party

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The Jharkhand Party (JKP) is one of the oldest political parties in India. formed on 5 March 1949 by Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda in Ranchi. The party grew out of the demand for a separate Jharkhand state.

The Jharkhand Party participated in the Bihar Legislative Assembly elections of 1952, 1957, and 1962. For more than 15 years, the Jharkhand Party was the only major opposition political party against the Indian National Congress in Bihar. In 1955, the Jharkhand Party submitted a memorandum for the creation of a separate state of Jharkhand to the States Reorganization Commission, but the state was not created for linguistic and economic reasons.[1][2]

History

Formation

The 19th-century sociopolitical movement in the lower Chotanagpur region, initiated by tribals to address their issues, gave rise to several tribal rights organizations, predominantly led by educated Christian tribals. One of the earliest was the Chotanagpur Unnati Samaj, founded in 1915 by Rev. Joel Lakra with help of Theble Oraon, Bandi Oraon and Paul Dayal, aimed at promoting education and social reform.[3] The organization demanded autonomy and socio-cultural protection to the Simon Commission during its visit to Patna in 1928. Around the same time, the Chotanagpur Catholic Sabha was formed under the leadership of Boniface Lakra and Ignes Beck (1928–1929), while non-convert Munda tribals established the Munda Sabha in 1929, although it failed to garner broad support. In 1931, peasant group broke away from the Unnati Samaj and founded the Chotanagpur Kisan Sabha, with Laurentius Barla as president and Theble Oraon as secretary, focusing on agrarian and cultural concerns in the Oraon belts. Similarly, in the early 1930s, some tribal traditionalists established the Sarna Sabha and began articulating the "Sarna" ethno-religious identity bloc.[4] By this time, the Unnati Samaj had reorganized as the Adivasi Sabha, a secular front for tribal consolidation.[5] However, in 1937 Bihar Provincial Assembly elections, only the Catholic Sabha managed limited success, winning two out of thirty-eight seats from Chotanagpur, while other tribal groups failed to gain representation. This electoral setback revealed the fragmented nature of tribal politics and prompted calls for unity, and in May 1938 the Adivasi Mahasabha (Template:Literally) was formed through consolidation of the Sabhas, with Theodore Surin as president and Paul Dayal as secretary. The Mahasabha began advocating the idea of a Jharkhand state in the Bihar Legislative Assembly in June 1938. At the Mahasabha's second annual session in Ranchi in January 1939, Jaipal Singh Munda was elected president. Following his election, the Mahasabha secured notable victories in the 1939 District Board elections, winning twenty seats in Singhbhum and sixteen in Ranchi. To support its political agenda and mobilization efforts beyond Ranchi and Singhbhum, the Mahasabha began publishing materials such as "Adivasi" and "Adivasi Sakam".Template:Efn

However, dissatisfaction with Christian influence in the Mahasabha led to a split in July 1939, when Theble Oraon founded the Sanatan Adivasi Mahasabha to represent traditionalist, non-Christian tribals aligned with the nationalist movement. At the Ramgarh session of Congress in 1940, Munda discussed with Subash Chandra Bose regarding Jharkhand state. Amid rejection of Jharkhand statehood demand from influential political leaders and growing internal disagreements, the Mahasabha's performance declined in the 1946 Bihar Assembly elections, securing only three seats, with Jaipal Singh defeated by Congress candidate Dr. P. C. Mitra. However, in the 1946 Constituent Assembly elections, Jaipal Singh was elected to represent the tribal population during the drafting of the Constitution of India and, as a member of the Tribal Sub-Committee, advocated for tribal interests in the Assembly. In 1947, internal debates emerged within the Mahasabha regarding the inclusion of non-tribal populations, since tribals accounted less than half of the Chotanagpur population, although no consensus was reached. Eventually, at its session held in Ranchi on 5 March 1949, the Mahasabha was reorganized as the Jharkhand Party, with Jaipal Singh as president and Julius Tigga as secretary. Following India's independence on 15 August 1947 and the adoption of the Constitution on 26 November 1949, which provided reserved political representation in tribal-concentrated regions, the Jharkhand Party was formally launched to the public on 1 January 1950 in Jamshedpur, shifting from a tribal-centric organization to a broader regional movement advocating for a separate Jharkhand state.[6][7][8]

Post-Independence

Template:Prose The Jharkhand Party participated in the 1952 election and won 34 seats in the Bihar Legislative Assembly and become the main opposition party.[1] In 1955, the Jharkhand Party submitted a memorandum for the creation of separate state to the States Reorganization Commission, but the demand was not accepted because the region had many languages and tribal groups were in the minority.[9] In 1957 and 1962 Legislative Assembly election, the winning candidates of the party reduced to 31 and 20 in subsequent elections.

Jaipal Singh was disappointed by the declining popularity of his party and rejection of its demand for a separate Jharkhand state.[10] In 1963 the Jharkhand Party merged with Indian National Congress.[1] The merger was quite unpopular within the party ranks, and a number of splinter groups were formed, including the All India Jharkhand Party, the Hul Jharkhand Party, and Veer Birsa Dal.

In 1967, N.E. Horo became an MLA of the Jharkhand Party from Kolibera by election.

In 1971, the Jharkhand Party was reorganized by Bagun Sumrai, who was elected president. Horo became general secretary of the party.

In 1975, N.E. Horo was elected president of the party and Noren Hansda was elected general secretary.

In 1990, N.E. Horo was elected president, working president Lal Ranvijay Nath Sahdeo, Ashok Bhagat General Secretary in byniel conference.

On 8 January 2009, Jharkhand Party candidate Raja Peter defeated sitting Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Shibu Soren by over 9,000 votes in presidency of Anosh Ekka and Shri Ashok Kumar Bhagat-Principal General Secretary.[11]

Splinter groups

Template:See also Template:Unreferenced section The Jharkhand Party was fragmented into several splinter groups, including more then nine during 1967–1972, after its merger into the Indian National Congress.[12][13][14]

Party Abbr. Election Symbol Founded Founder/Leader Note
Template:Full party name with color JKP File:Indian Election Symbol Cock.png Template:Date Jaipal Singh Munda Merged with Indian National Congress (Template:Date)
Template:Full party name with color Template:Tooltip AIJP Template:Date Lal Hari Nath Sahdeo United with presidentship A.K. Lakra (Template:Date); later split back into three groups
Template:Full party name with color (ii) AIJP 1965 Paul Dayal
Template:Full party name with color (iii) AIJP 1965 A.K. Lakra
Template:Full party name with color BSD 1967 Lalit Kumar Kujur
Template:Full party name with color (iv) AIJP Template:Date Ratnakar Naik
Template:Full party name with color BPHJ Template:Date Justin Richard
Template:Party color cell Jharkhand Party (Aditya) JKP(A) 1968 Aditya Kisku Later renamed to Jharkhand Anushilan Party
Template:Full party name with color (iv) AIJP Template:Date David Munzni
Template:Full party name with color (Horo) JKP(H) 1970 Niral Enem Horo
Template:Full party name with color (v) AIJP 1970 Bagun Sumbrai
Template:Full party name with color PHJP 1972 Split of BPHJ
Template:Full party name with color KRS Template:Date
Template:Full party name with color JMM File:Indian Election Symbol Bow And Arrow.svg Template:Date Shibu Soren
Template:Full party name with color JKD 1980
Template:Party color cell All India Jharkhand Students Union AJSU File:Indian Election Symbol Banana.svg Template:Date
Template:Full party name with color JCC 1987
Template:Full party name with color JLF 1989 Salkhan Murmu
Template:Full party name with color HJP 1989
Template:Full party name with color (Naren) JKP(N) 1990 Naren Hansda
Template:Full party name with color UJP Template:Date
Template:Full party name with color HJKD Template:Date
Template:Full party name with color CF
Template:Full party name with color CPPP
Template:Full party name with color KMM

Electoral performance

Legislative Assembly election results

style="background-color:Template:Party color;color:white" |Election Year style="background-color:Template:Party color;color:white;" |Party style="background-color:Template:Party color;color:white" | Seats contested style="background-color:Template:Party color;color:white" | Seats won style="background-color:Template:Party color;color:white" | +/- seats style="background-color:Template:Party color;color:white" | Overall Votes style="background-color:Template:Party color;color:white" | Percentage of votes style="background-color:Template:Party color;color:white" | Template:Abbr
1952 JKP 53 32 – 765,272 8.01 [15]
1957 70 31 Template:Decrease 1 749,021 7.08 [16]
1962 75 20 Template:Decrease 11 432,643 4.39 [17]
1972 JKD 42 1 Template:Decrease 90,717 0.53 [18]
1977 JKD 31 2 72,303 0.42

[19]

Working committee

Template:Unreferenced section

style="background-color:Template:Party color; color:white" | S.No. style="background-color:Template:Party color; color:white" | Name style="background-color:Template:Party color; color:white" | Designation
1. Anosh Ekka National President
2. Ajit Kumar Executive President
3. Ashok Kumar Bhagat Principal General Secretary
4. Kiran Kumar Aind Executive President

List of presidents

Template:Unreferenced section

style="background-color:Template:Party color;color:white" | No. style="background-color:Template:Party color;color:white" | Presidents style="background-color:Template:Party color;color:white" | Term in Office
1. Jaipal Singh Munda
Template:Small 		1949–1963
Merged into INC, splinted into groups
2. Bagun Sumbrai
Template:Small 		1971–1975
3. Niral Enem Horo
Template:Small 		1975–2005
4. Anosh Ekka
Template:Small 		2005–Incumbent

References

Footnotes

Template:Notelist

Sources

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Unrest Axle: Ethno-social Movements in Eastern India edited by Gautam Kumar Bera{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Mittal Publications(2008). ISBN 9788183241458
  2. ↑ Reunion bells ring for Jharkhand Party factions. m.telegraphindia.com.
  3. ↑ Jharkhand, Castle Over the Graves{{#if:Das|, Das}. Inter-India Publications(1992). ISBN 978-81-210-0298-1
  4. ↑ Hembram, P. C. (1988). pp. 87–88.
  5. ↑ Western Education and Rise of New Identity: Mundas and Oraons of Chotanagpur, 1839-1939. Economic and Political Weekly({Template:Date).
  6. ↑ Political Consciousness in Jharkhand, 1900-1947. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress({Template:Date).
  7. ↑ The Adivasi Mahasabha (1938-1949): Launching Pad of the Jharkhand Movement. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress({Template:Date).
  8. ↑ The Jharkhand movement: A critique. Social Change({Template:Date).
  9. ↑ Sensex of Regional Parties{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Prabhat Prakashan(2022). ISBN 978-9355212368
  10. ↑ Small States Syndrome in India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Concept Publishing Company(1998). ISBN 9788170226918
  11. ↑ Jharkhand CM Shibu Sores loses in by-election(8 January 2009). Retrieved 2009-01-08.
  12. ↑ Election Results - Full Statistical Reports.
  13. ↑ The Congress - Jharkhand Merger (1963) and the Separatist Movement in Tribal Bihar. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress({Template:Date).
  14. ↑ Handbook of Tribal Politics in India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. SAGE Publications Pvt Ltd(2021). ISBN 978-93-5388-458-1
  15. ↑ Template:Cite report
  16. ↑ Template:Cite report
  17. ↑ Template:Cite report
  18. ↑ Template:Cite report
  19. ↑ Template:Cite report

Further reading

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