If individuals chose us, why should BJP be blamed for poaching? Marandi

The first chief minister of Jharkhand, Babulal Marandi, is once again leading BJP from the front since 2020 after an exile of 14 years. The saffron leader with his roots in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was ordained into politics through the Vishwa Hindu Parishad as its organisational secretary for the Jharkhand region.

He shot into the limelight after defeating "Dishom Guru" Shibu Soren in the indomitable Dumka seat in 1998. As the BJP president of the Vananchal committee in undivided Bihar, it was under his leadership that the party won 12 seats in south Bihar which later got separated as Jharkhand state. In an exclusive interview with TOI's Jaideep Deogharia and Dhritiman Ray, Marandi said the party and its ally will perform better than the 1998 polls and win all 14 seats. Excerpts...

What made you come back to BJP? Has there been any remarkable changes in the party since the time you deserted to form your own party?

Time has changed and I gained a lot of experience in the last 14 years through struggle. I met so many people from different political affiliations. I realized that the majority of them were ready to compromise to come to power or remain in power. There was no outlook for nation-building. The parties and individuals were not rooted in any ideology whereas, despite all differences, BJP is a political party that never lost sight of nation-building. It is the party where the workers are ready to push in a direction irrespective of being a ruling party or leading the opposition.

BJP is often accused of poaching MLAs from other parties. Your comments...

In politics, the movement of an individual involves two parties. Why is it believed that BJP is poaching them using money and muscle power? Those days are gone when muscle power can be used to change the ideals of an individual. All sorts of migration now are often associated with dissent and disgruntlement of the individual in their own party. And if they realize that their loyalty and diligence would be acknowledged by BJP and they chose us for their political career, why should BJP be blamed for poaching?

Was it a crisis of winnable candidate then at Singhbum that Congress's Geeta Koda was fielded from the seat?

Madhu Koda had a long association with the Sangh and BJP. It was due to certain political differences that he contested as an independent candidate in 2005 and won. Things were not favouring, otherwise, he always wanted to come back to BJP. He was a minister in my cabinet and we had remained in touch all through. Now, when his wife is contesting and is willing to join BJP, we can at best describe it as a home-coming.

Is the action of central agencies, particularly Arvind Kerjiwal and Hemant Soren being in jail, going to impact the outcome of the 2024 Lok Sabha election?

It would not have much impact on the election results because some of their ardent followers might go with the party in sympathy but the majority of the voters who know the reason why they are in jail will never vote for them. We have seen the case of Lalu Prasad, who does caste-based politics, in which the supporters remained with him. In fact, it will have a positive impact on us.

How many seats do you foresee in Jharkhand?

I believe that the 2019 results will be repeated or we may do even better. Out of the 14 seats, one or two seats might be a little difficult but given the kind of vision and development that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown in the last 10 years, the voters understand that they have no option but to vote for us if they want development.

Apart from the Modi factor, what else will work for BJP?

Opposition practices negative politics. They don't believe in having a vision and working for the development. Rather, they want to criticize and capitalize by picking holes in the good deeds of the ruling party. Who has stopped them from working in favour of the public? They do not have leadership, whereas starting from Vajpayee's time, BJP went on to work in the direction of welfare and development. There is a network of PMGSY roads in rural India, poor people are getting 5kg ration for free, every village has been electrified, poor are getting health insurance coverage worth Rs5 lakh each and the economy of the country is on a robust path.