THE life which seemed to have gone out of the body politic of Jharkhand seems to be showing signs of coming back, with a fresh deal between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).

The state, which has been under President’s rule since May last, can hope to see a government of elected representatives installed in a couple of weeks or less. The UPA government must not allow any delay in asking the Governor, Mr M Farook to invite the BJP legislature party leader, Mr Arjun Munda to take oath and prove his majority in a vote of confidence the soonest possible. Mr Munda has already presented to Mr Farook a list of 45 MLAs (in a house of 82 members with one vacancy) who are ready to give unconditional support to the new government. Mr Farook is believed to have sent a report to the union government recommending revocation of President’s rule.

Many hurdles needed to be crossed before it became possible for Mr Munda to gather the required strength. First, the BJP had to resolve its own legislature party leadership rivalries. Eventually, the party national president, Mr Nitin Gadkari, who is currently in Moscow, had to, according to a newspaper report "virtually order the legislature party leader, Mr Raghuvar Das to make way for Mr Munda." It was only then that Mr Munda was elected the leader of the legislature party at a meeting on Tuesday. Following his election, Mr Munda drove to the Raj Bhavan in Ranchi to see the Governor, Mr Farook and present him letters of support from the JMM, the Janata Dal (United), the All Jharkhand Students’ Union and independents. Besides 18 BJP MLAs, Mr Munda claims the support of 18 JMM legislators, 5 of the AJSU, 2 from the JD(U) and 2 independents.

The most recent imposition of President’s rule in May was triggered by the JMM, while being a partner with the BJP in Jharkhand, voted for the UPA government on a cut motion in Parliament moved by the BJP at the time of passing of the Finance Bill on April 27. In retaliation, the BJP decided to withdraw support to the JMM-BJP government led by Mr Shibu Soren. Following the withdrawal decision, the BJP and the JMM held several rounds of talks in Ranchi and Delhi, which involved Mr Shibu Soren and his son and ‘heir’ Mr Hemat Soren, also an MLA, and state and national leaders of BJP, including Mr Rajnath Singh. But talks broke down with JMM leaders speaking in different voices; the BJP insisted on claiming chief minister’s office if the JMM wanted their partnership in government to continue. Mr Soren resigned on May 30 ahead of a trust vote and the state came under President’s rule on June 1.

Jharkhand has been politically unstable since it was carved out of Bihar on November 15, 2000 on the basis that development in small states is faster. However, in the past about ten years of its statehood, Jharkhand has had eight chief ministers. The instability has adversely affected development in the state. A study laments: "Frequent political instability affects development works. Bureaucrats stop work, files get buried and bureaucrats are not accountable for that because of political instability." Another report gives the following example: the state’s first chief minister, Mr Babulal Marandi formulated a ‘Greater Ranchi’ policy, but his successor Mr Arjun Munda dropped it. Mr Munda signed several MoUs, but the succeeding chief ministers did not pursue them.

The state of infrastructure in Jharkhand is abysmal. Bihar has vastly improved in terms of road connectivity and quality of roads, bridges and transportation. Bihar has not only improved its physical infrastructure but also its human infrastructure in terms of health and education. Jharkhand has been falling behind since its formation. Last year on after taking his salute on the Republic Day, the then Jharkhand governor, Mr S S Razi said: "Jharkhand is far behind the national average in different fields like developing basic infrastructure, rural electrification, connecting villages to districts, developing irrigation facilities and other things." Let us hope that the new government led by Mr Arjun Munda lasts and is able to contribute to the development of the state.