Domicile Dilemma: Jharkhand govt struggles to define a 'Jharkhandi'

Ranchi, March 27 A storm has been brewing in Jharkhand as to who gets to be called a citizen of the state. This question came up even during the state budget session here, which ran from February 25 to March 25.

Interestingly, the legislators of the ruling party were more vocal on this issue than the Opposition. They also staged a protest in front of the Jharkhand Assembly.

On March 7, the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) decided to gherao the Assembly, but their workers were stopped by the police in the outskirts of Ranchi. There were big demonstrations held in Dhanbad and Bokaro as well.

This is not the first time that a controversy over the domicile policy has erupted there. Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar on November 15, 2000 and the debate over domicile has been going on since then.

Even today, 21 years later, the issue is driving new protests in the state.

However, the problem is rooted in the history of Jharkhand. From 1950 till it became a separate state, there was constant influx of people from outside as industries and mines were set up here.

The domicile dilemma thus stems from the debate whether the people who came here in search of work and their children born and raised here, should be considered as 'Jharkhandis'.

First Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Babulal Marandi, formulated the domicile policy in 2002, according to which, those whose ancestors' names have been recorded in the 'khatian' or land survey papers of 1932 during the British rule, would be considered locals.

However, after the announcement of the policy, protests broke out. Old residents, who have were registered under the 1932 land records, came out in support of it while those who migrated later in search of employment opportunities, opposed it which gave rise to a conflict between the two groups, followed by arson, murder, strikes, and police firing in which five people lost their lives.

The matter then reached the Jharkhand High Court which rejected the domicile policy of the Babulal Marandi government in November 2002.

Due to the controversial domicile policy that triggered widespread turmoil in the state, Marandi had to eventually resign.

After this, for almost 14 years, every government in the state feared to take a decision on the issue. Even though several committees were formed to review this, no previous governments could come to a conclusion.

Before the 2019 Assembly elections, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) had announced that the Raghubar Das government's domicile policy will be scrapped and a new local policy will be formulated based on the 1932 'khatian', if it is voted to power.

However, soon after the JMM won the elections and formed Hemant Soren government along with the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Covid-19 virus surfaced and shifted the government's attention from other vital challenges such as the domicile policy.

Now after situation returned to normal, the supporters of the Hemant Soren-led government began pressuring for a new local policy based on the 1932 'khatian' as promised.

When many leaders including Education and Excise Minister Jagarnath Mahto, Finance Minister Rameshwar Oraon, JMM MLA Lobin Hembram, Congress MLAs Bandhu Tirkey and Naman Bixal Kongari began addressing this issue repeatedly, it sparked a fresh row in the state.

Amit Mahto, a former JMM MLA, resigned from the party in protest against the non-declaration of a policy based on 1932 'khatian'.

On the other hand, former Congress Minister Geetashree Oraon also resigned from the party accusing the government of not taking care of Jharkhandi public sentiments.

Lobin Hembram announced that he will not go home until the government implements the Khatian policy. He even announced to run a campaign across the state from April 5.

Soon, different tribal-indigenous organisations also began protesting across the state. In many places, including Bokaro, Dhanbad, Ranchi, there were dharnas, demonstrations, meetings throughout February and March, demanding a new khatian policy.

On March 20, tribal-indigenous organisations organised a 40 km 'Run for Khatian', from Bokaro to Dhanbad, in which thousands of people participated, demanding the consideration of the 1932 khatian. Youths even reached Ranchi on March 21 to gherao the Assembly but were stopped outside the city.

Finally, on March 24, after large-scale agitations, Chief Minister Hemant Soren said in the Assembly that the local policy cannot be made on the basis of the 1932 khatian, as the High Court had cancelled it soon after the Babulal Marandi government implemented it.

He said: "The government will decide the local policy keeping in mind the sentiments of the people of Jharkhand. The opposition wants to create chaos in the state on this issue. But we will not let that happen. The government will go ahead with a broad consensus on this issue."

However, with the political debates and agitations still continuing, the question of who is a 'Jharkhandi' still remains up in the air.