The dilemmas of the regional parties in Jharkhand

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 4 zooms in on the regional parties of Jharkhand and their dilemmas in balancing the representation of marginalized ethnic groups with the need to expand their ethnic social base across the region. While a politics of compromise has dictated their choices, it is also true that—in response to the instrumental and strategic application of Adivasi identity by the Hindu right—regional parties have revived expressive partisanship so that it achieves both political and social capital for those social groups who strongly identify as Adivasi. While the chapter outlines the emergence of the three main regional parties in Jharkhand, it focuses specifically on the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) to explain that the rise, fall, and resurgence of the party must be seen in the context of how those Indigenous subaltern movements that propelled groups-based rights claims to change extant structures of subordination have been dealt with through different phases of Indian democracy.