Indian politician
Babulal Marandi
(
Hindi pronunciation:
[B?bul?l
mara??i]
; born 11 January 1958) is an Indian politician of the
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) and it's Jharkhand unit president. He was the first
Chief Minister of Jharkhand
and formerly Leader of the Legislature Party of BJP in the
Jharkhand Legislative Assembly
.
[1]
He was also the founder and national President of
Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik)
, which he later merged with BJP. He was the Member of Parliament in 12th, 13th 14th and 15th Lok Sabha from
Jharkhand
. He was the Union State Minister (MoS) for Forests & Environment of India in the BJP ? led
National Democratic Alliance
Government in 1998 to 2000. He was appointed as Jharkhand BJP president on 04 July 2023.
[2]
Early life
[
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]
Babulal was born in a remote Kodia Bandh village under
Tisri block
of
Giridih district
of the now
Jharkhand
province. He belongs to
Santal
family.
[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]
Later, he moved to Ranchi where he did his post-graduation in Geography from
Ranchi University
.
[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
Vishva Hindu Parishad
.
[1]
In 1983, he moved to
Dumka
and worked in the
Santhal Pargana division
, which he toured extensively and where he became close to Bishnu Prasad Bhaiya, his then companion. There he used to spend some time at his Jamtara Residence but mainly he used to live in the RSS office in Dumka. Thereafter his journey to Ranchi and Delhi began.
[1]
Political career
[
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]
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
leader
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 CM of Jharkhand
[
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]
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
Janata Dal United
.
Thereafter, his 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)
[
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]
Marandi resigned from both the Kodarma seat and the primary membership of the BJP in 2006 and floated a new political outfit named
Jharkhand Vikas Morcha
. He was followed by 5 MLAs of the BJP. In the subsequent by-elections for the Kodarma seat, he contested as an independent candidate and emerged victoriously.
Marandi, who was the incumbent MP from Kodarma, contested the elections on Jharkhand Vikas Morcha ticket in the 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.
In February 2020, he merged JVM into BJP.
[3]
Bharatiya Janata Party
[
edit
]
Marandi merged
Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik)
with the BJP on February 17, 2020, at Jagannathpur Maidan,
Ranchi
in presence of Union Home Minister
Amit Shah
, BJP president
Jagat Prakash Nadda
and former Chief Ministers of Jharkhand
Arjun Munda
and
Raghubar Das
.
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
Personal life
[
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]
Babulal Marandi is married to Shanti Murmu.
[1]
His younger son Anup Marandi was killed in a
Naxal
attack at Chilkhari village in
Jharkhand
's
Giridih district
on 27 October 2007.
[9]
References
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]
External links
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]
Political offices
|
Preceded by
office created
|
1st
Chief Minister of Jharkhand
15 November 2000 - 18 March 2003
|
Succeeded by
|
Party political offices
|
Preceded by
Office established
|
President of
JVM (P)
September 2009 - February 2020
|
Succeeded by
office abolished
|