JMM has left the Grand Alliance in Bihar. Angered by not getting respect and ignoring the seats, the party will now contest elections alone on 6 seats. JMM has accused RJD-Congress of neglect.
Patna: Another major upheaval has taken place in the politics of Bihar. Jharkhand’s ruling party Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has announced to separate from the Grand Alliance and contest the elections alone. The party has said that it will field its candidates on six assembly seats of Bihar: Dhamdaha, Chakai, Katoria, Manihari, Jamui and Peerpainti. But the question is, why did JMM have to take this step? Is it just a dispute over seats, or is there some deep resentment hidden behind it?
“Gived support, but did not get respect” This is JMM’s complaint
JMM leaders allege that they did not get equal respect in the Grand Alliance. Party general secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya clearly said that he had contacted RJD and Congress several times. JMM had given information about those areas where it has a strong support base and workers have been fighting against JDU-BJP for years. But his words were not taken seriously.
Bhattacharya said, “We talked to every constituent of the grand alliance, especially the RJD. We had supported them in Jharkhand, but now we were ignored in Bihar. It had become one-sided politics, not a partnership.” That means JMM’s anger is not just on seat distribution, but on the politics of neglect that was slowly growing within the alliance.
“We are Shibu Soren’s party, we will not bow down”
Senior JMM leader Manoj Pandey clearly said that the party does not do politics at the mercy of anyone. He said, “We are Shibu Soren’s party, we have always fought for the rights of tribals and the underprivileged. When you considered us your allies in Jharkhand, we were your allies. But now when our turn came in Bihar, we were considered a ‘small party’. Now we will not compromise with our self-respect.”
JMM leaders say that they waited a lot and talked, but did not get any concrete answer. Ultimately the party decided that now there will be politics of respect and not slavery of alliance.
Six seats became the real reason
The six seats on which JMM has decided to contest elections are not just political arenas but the identity of its struggle. Party workers have been active in these areas for a long time and have many times organized big movements on local issues. The party says that when the alliance tried to put these seats in the account of RJD or Congress, it was like cheating the grassroots workers. For this reason JMM said, “Now our own battle will be fought.”
RJD-Congress’ ‘big brother’ politics
The seat sharing talks within the Grand Alliance were stuck for the last two months. RJD was claiming about 165 seats, while it was ready to give less than 50 seats to Congress. There was no discussion on how many seats JMM would get.
According to sources, RJD shrugged off JMM’s presence considering it as symbolic cooperation. That is, being a small party in the alliance meant that you just support, do not talk about seats. Due to this attitude, the patience of JMM leaders broke.
Crack in INDIA alliance?
This step of JMM is not limited to Bihar only. This is believed to be the first sign of growing uneasiness within the INDIA alliance. There was already resentment among small parties that big parties like Congress and RJD do not give equal status to their allies.