EVER since he became the chief minister of Jharkhand in 2019, Hemant Soren never missed an opportunity to reiterate that he is the only Adivasi CM'. However, that status has changed now. The decision of the BJP to appoint Adivasi leader Vishnu Deo Sai as the CM of Chhattisgarh surprised many, but political insiders believe this is a masterstroke by the party at a time when Soren's evocation of Sarna dharma against the Hindutva narrative has gained popularity among Adivasis in the Hindi heartland.
Notably, Sai is the first Adivasi CM of Chhattisgarh since the formation of the state in 2000. "The state has not got a single Adivasi CM even after having a 31 per cent tribal population. This decision is not only going to amend the past mistakes but also has broader implications in the bordering state of Jharkhand that is going to the polls in 2024," says an Adivasi activist based in Jharkhand.
Chhattisgarh was not the only surprise. In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP brought in former education minister Mohan Yadav as the new face, sidelining four-time CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan-even though the party gained an overwhelming majority banking on schemes promoted by him and his popularity. Political analysts think that the appointment of Yadav as a CM will have multiple consequences. The strategic move is not only going to cater to the OBC vote bank in a state that is estimated to have more than 50 per cent OBC population; but it will also have an impact in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where the Yadavs have always sided with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Samajwadi Party (SP), respectively.
Esta historia es de la edición January 01, 2024 de Outlook.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición January 01, 2024 de Outlook.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Trump, Up And Charging
'Many countries are nervous about Donald Trump returning to power, but India is not one of them'
Post and Past the Oil in Azerbaijan
As the UN climate conference takes place in Baku, Azerbaijan traces the history of the hydrocarbon industry through the lens of postage stamps
Bhutto's Nehru Story
Nehru's principle of \"compromise and argument\" remains the only workable formula for South Asian leaders
Breathless on Bachchan
Cédric Dupire's documentary The Real Superstar is an irreverent, experimental archive of Amitabh Bachchan's life and his stardom
The Anaphora to Zeugma of the Queen's English
Shashi Tharoor's book is a logophile's candy shop, full of fun, surprises and insights
The Wind Knocked
THE wind knocked on the door. Hesitantly. Wanting to be let in. It had heard the murmuring of the flames. And knew that there was a fire. The wind sought shelter.
The Way Home
“We comfort ourselves by reliving memories of protection. Something closed must retain our memories, while leaving them their original value as images. Memories of the outside world will never have the same tonality as those of home and, by recalling these memories, we add to our store of dreams; we are never real historians, but always near poets, and our emotion is perhaps nothing but an expression of a poetry that was lost.”—Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space
The War Artist
Cartoonist and journalist Joe Sacco is in search of the truths distorted by conventional narratives
Mining Adivasi Votes
If the BJP manages to win Jharkhand, it will be the third mineral-rich state after Odisha and Chhattisgarh that will fall into the party's kitty
Unequal Republic
Political parties make promises of equal represention to women, but patriarchy continues to dominate electoral democracy
