Babulal Marandi

Babu Lal Marandi (born 11 January 1958) was the first Chief Minister of Jharkhand.^[1] He is the founder and national president of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik). He was the Member of Parliament from Kodarma (Lok Sabha constituency) in 2009.^[2] He was the Minister of State, Forests & Environment, Govt. of India in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Early life

Babulal was born in a remote Kodia Bank village under Tisri block of Giridih district of the now Jharkhand province.^[1]

After passing high school, he moved to Giridih College from where he did his intermediate and graduation. It was there that he came in contact with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.^[1]

He worked as a teacher in a village primary school for a year before giving up the job to work for the Sangh Parivar. He served as the organising secretary of the Jharkhand region of Vishwa Hindu Parishad.^[1]

In 1983, he moved to Dumka and worked in the Santhal Pargana division, which he toured extensively. In those days, he used to live in the RSS office in Dumka.^[1]

Political career

In 1991, the Bharatiya Janata Party gave him the ticket to contest from the Dumka (Lok Sabha constituency), but he lost. In 1996, he lost to Shibu Soren by just 5,000 odd votes. The BJP, in the meantime, made him president of the party's Jharkhand unit.^[1]

It was under Marandi's leadership that the party won 12 out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand region in the 1998 election. Marandi, a Santal, led the tally by defeating Jharkhand Mukti Morcha supremo Shibu Soren, another Santhal.^[1]

The victory gave an immense boost to Marandi's profile and he was included in the Union Council of Ministers, one of four ministers from Bihar.^[1]

First NDA rule of Jharkhand

After bifurcation of Bihar in 2000 in states of Bihar and Jharkhand, NDA came to power in Jharkhand with Marandi as the 1st Chief Minister of Jharkhand. Political analysts believe that this government initiated many developmental schemes in the state, the most visible being, improvement of the road network in the state.

He also put forward the idea to develop Greater Ranchi to reduce the crowding in the city. However, Marandi's tenure proved rather short-lived, as he had to resign and make way for Arjun Munda for the post in 2003 following pressure exerted by coalition allies primarily Janta Dal United.

Thereafter, he increasing moved away from political mainstage of Jharkhand irrespective of NDA being in power in Ranchi. In the 2004 Lok Sabha Elections, he contested from Kodarma (Lok Sabha constituency) as a BJP candidate. He won the seat while all the other sitting MPs of NDA from Jharkhand including union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Reeta Verma lost their respective seats. His differences with the state leadership continued to increase and he even started criticising the state government in public.

Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM)

Marandi resigned from both Kodarma (Lok Sabha constituency) seat and the primary membership of Bharatiya Janata Party in 2006 and floated a new political outfit named Jharkhand Vikas Morcha. He was followed by 5 MLAs of Bharatiya Janata Party. In the subsequent by-elections for the Kodarma (Lok Sabha constituency) seat, he contested as an independent candidate and emerged victorious.

Marandi, who was the incumbent MP from Kodarma (Lok Sabha constituency), contested the elections on Jharkhand Vikas Morcha ticket in 2009 general election, and retained the seat. But in the Narendra Modi wave of 2014, Marandi's party failed to win any seat in the state as BJP won 12 out of 14 seats; from Koderma, BJP's Ravindra Kumar Ray was elected to Lok Sabha.

Personal life

Babulal Marandi is married to Shanti Devi. His younger son Anup Marandi was killed in a Naxal attack at Chilkhadia village in Jharkhand's Giridih district on 27 October 2007.^[3][4]

References

External links

• Home Page on the Parliament of India's Website