with-33-criminal-cases-will-modi-campaign-for-alleged-mining-mafia

The BJP’s tom-toming against crime and corruption meets with a bump in Jharkhand and this bump is known as Dhullu Mahto.

   

Blessed by Jharkhand BJP president Babulal Marandi, the party has fielded 49-year-old Mahto from the Dhanbad Lok Sabha seat. 

 

Local BJP leaders, workers and voters are aghast and irate at Mahto being chosen because of the man’s established notoriety. 

 

The candidature has left them wondering whether senior BJP leaders would share the dias with Mahto and solicit votes in the name of good governance and fight against crime and corruption.

 

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) led INDI alliance in Jharkhand is on the back foot after Chief Minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a land scam case in January. 

 

Besides, Soren is also accused of having patronised illegal stone mining worth over Rs 1250 Crore. 

 

The BJP accuses Soren of patronising and participating in illegal mining of stone, coal and sand and the party had rather decided to make it a poll plank.

A day after the arrest of Soren, PM Modi on March 1 visited Dhanbad to address a public rally where he named JMM as the ‘Jam Kar Ke Khao’ party.

 

Surprisingly the BJP chose to drop a don in Dhanbad.

 

A big question is haunting BJP workers are the grassroots level at a time when the party is fielding an alleged mining mafia with a criminal background whether they will be able to corner Hemant Soren as master of mining scams.

 

“Have they crisis of candidates? Have they found only this don as a candidate? Aren’t we ridiculing the trust of the public and Modi?”, a livid BJP worker said.    

 

Mahto, who sports a fancy ‘Lalu’ haircut needs no formal introduction. From locals to Google, from police to judicial records, all allege him as a mining mafia, mussel man, extortionist, and criminal who is also facing trials in as many as 33 serious cases. 

 

These cases are related to attempts to murder, arms and explosive Acts violations, assaulting government officials, theft and others. 

 

Eight years back, the Jharkhand High Court had ordered the Income Tax Department and ED to investigate the alleged disproportionate assets of Mahto. The fate of that court order is unknown.

 

A sitting BJP MLA from the Baghmara seat, Mahto’s CV is less burnished with any notable political and social achievements but is besmirched with notoriety and criminal activities.

 

The number of criminal cases against him keeps falling and rising like Sensex amid his undisputed distinction as a mining mafia and criminal. Mahto has also been convicted in several cases. 

 

However, the sentence terms in all these cases were less than two years, which did not disqualify Mahto from contesting elections. who was earlier convicted by the court in a couple of criminal cases.

 

Dhanbad which had once inspired block blusters like Kaala Patthar, is blessed with an abundance of high-quality coal and it fuels power plants and industries across the country. 

 

Dhanbad Lok Sabha having six assembly segments namely — Dhanbad, Nirsa, Sindri, Jharia, Chandankiyari and Bokaro — has been politically quite sensitive. The majority of the population are from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh who settled a long time back in search of livelihood and business.

 

The constituency has its oozing wounds of business rivalry and illegal mining resulting in gang wars, right from the days of BP Sinha and Suryadeo Singh to present days players including Mahto who are in the politics and controlling coal mining and transportation here. 

 

Dhanbad is nothing but mines of money for the greedy cabal of police, politicians, mafias and bureaucrats.

 

“And you want us to elect someone who is doing all these things. From common people to the business community, his candidature has made everyone uncomfortable. 

 

A couple of days back Mahto threatened a local businessman because that businessman sent a letter to BJP chief Babulal Marandi to protest his candidature,” said a resident of Dhanbad.

 

BJP’s morality brownies may be nice on the side, but Babulal Marandi seems to be believing in realpolitik. Marandi defended his candidature that cases against politicians are quite natural.

 

This is the real woe of the BJP where leadership is defending the candidature of someone having ruined enough reputation. 

 

There is another allegation against Marandi that he favoured a number of his associates from his previous party JVM and Mahto is one of them. 

 

Mahto is gradually becoming a ticking time bomb that may hit the BJP adversely. 

 

The Rajpoot voters having a sizable population in Dhanbad are already upset with the BJP due to their non-representation in the ticket distribution.

The frustration of voters and BJP cadres over Mahoti’s choice has given the JMM and the Congress a few reasons to hope and smile. 

 

Dhanbad remained one of the secured LS seats for the BJP. Leaders of the INDI alliance are elated that state BJP leadership has done half the job for them. 

 

Former BJP leader and independent MLA from Jamshedpur (East) Saryu Roy who had defeated BJP CM Raghubar Das in the last assembly election, has hinted about his intention to contest from Dhanbad. 

 

PM Narendra Modi’s arch-rival Yashwant Sinha is impressing upon the Congress to support Roy in case he contests.