00:00This is Ranchi, the capital city of Jharkhand.
00:09There's a nip in the air and the people of Ranchi have already taken out their sweaters
00:14and sweatshirts to beat the cold.
00:17But needless to say, this bustling city has another sort of warmth in it, especially today
00:24when it comes to the first phase of elections for the Jharkhand Assembly elections.
00:2843 seats are voting today out of the 83 that we have here in total.
00:35Rest of the 40 seats will go to elections in the next phase.
00:38This is a special presentation from One India, from the heart of Jharkhand's capital, Ranchi.
00:44We are as of now at Doranda and the visuals that you see on your screen is of the iconic
00:51high court of Jharkhand, high court of Ranchi.
00:55And now we are here sitting at Kathmandu Tea Stall, one of a nondescript tea stalls here
01:02which primarily is run by a very kind lady who has served us this steaming hot cup of
01:10lemon tea.
01:25So, what are your expectations, what are your wishes, what are your aspirations?
01:32Along with that, Keshav, tell us, you have been travelling to different parts of Jharkhand
01:38for the past five days.
01:40If we talk about Ranchi for a little while, what kind of voter sentiment did you see in
01:45the surrounding areas?
01:46Yes, Pankaj, as far as I can understand, I feel that the sentiment of voters in Jharkhand
01:51is a little subdued.
01:52It is not very vocal.
01:53But the way we gauge people's views, their mood, I don't feel that there is a lot of
02:02anger against the Hemant Suresh government.
02:06Okay.
02:07But at the same time, there is a special group of people who have the hope that with the
02:14arrival of a double-engine government, development will be better.
02:19So, as far as I can understand, I feel that this election in Jharkhand is less about issues
02:26and more about ideology.
02:29Okay.
02:30However, the BJP has always been an attacker in election campaigns.
02:35In all the campaigns, Hemant Abhishek Sharma, who is the co-in-charge of Jharkhand, has
02:41raised the issue of land jihad, illegal infiltration in Bangladesh with a lot of force.
02:49And in some areas, especially in Jharkhand, there has been a slight appeal from the voters.
02:57There is a small fraction of them who feel that Jharkhand is all about their jungle land.
03:05Absolutely.
03:07So, they feel that people are forcibly occupying their land, coming from outside.
03:14And this external and internal sentiment that has been there in Jharkhand, it has been there
03:20for 20-25 years.
03:21It has not only been about Bangladeshi immigration, it has also been about the people of Bihar
03:26who are living here after partition.
03:28There are people from other states.
03:30So, they feel that land jihad is their first priority.
03:33And rightly so.
03:35Our Prime Minister also says, local for local.
03:39So, these are some issues that the BJP is trying to bring up.
03:44We have seen all the posters in the city, in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Saraikela, Pokharo,
03:51wherever we are going, Dalton Cut, all these places.
03:57So, the BJP has been successful in bringing up the sentiment.
04:01They have a nationalistic approach.
04:04Absolutely.
04:05They use all means to push the elections towards them.
04:09Everything is going on here as well.
04:12There is a little bit of anger towards the Suryans, but they are not angry.
04:17They don't feel that everything will change all of a sudden.
04:19Absolutely.
04:20So, in the urban areas, if you see, the BJP is targeting voters,
04:24they are talking about urban development.
04:27And in the current state of Ranchi,
04:29they feel that a lot of change is being made here.
04:35A hole is being dug every 200 meters.
04:37Preparations are being made to make flyovers.
04:39But when we asked people, what are these incomplete flyovers all about?
04:44They said, this is a flyover of politics,
04:47which has got entangled into the web of who done it,
04:51and whose responsibility is it anyway, sort of situation.
04:55And hence, Ranchi capital as of now is struggling.
04:58As far as Keshav, when you mentioned about the issues that BJP is trying to propagate here,
05:03one of them being the issue of infiltrators, you know, those who came from Bangladesh.
05:09But when it comes to Jharkhand, I have been staying in this state,
05:14I mean, I have stayed here, I have grown up here in the state of Jharkhand.
05:18And we saw the transition from Bihar to Jharkhand and what were the sentiments.
05:22Primarily, the people are not that much concerned about the influx.
05:27We talk about influx, we talk about infiltration, we talk about infiltration.
05:32But when it comes to Jharkhand, there are many states like Assam and West Bengal,
05:37where the direct impact has been seen more.
05:39Jharkhand, I will not say that it is not a worrying state,
05:43but still it is not a big issue here.
05:46Hemant Soren and JMM say that BJP is trying to polarize such issues.
05:52They want to create a gap in the society again.
05:55Especially the Bengali society, where they live in Kanta Toli,
05:58where I spoke to many people yesterday, I was looking at your report.
06:01Many people said that the entire locality of Godhpur was settled by Bangladeshi refugees.
06:07So they do not have a sour feeling about it.
06:09There is a mechanism here that addresses the refugees from Bangladesh.
06:16The Punjabi refugees from Pakistan, when the Shrikh community came here,
06:21a PP compound was set up to settle them too.
06:26So I think the main issue here is education and development.
06:33We have been roaming on these busy roads of Ranchi for the past 5 days.
06:36There is a lot of noise.
06:38This is a city that is competing with any tier 1 city.
06:41But the urban development in a planned way, we can see it somewhere in the background.
06:46C.P. Singh has been an MLA here for the past 25-26 years.
06:53He was also the Urban Development Minister and Urban Planning Minister.
06:56Many people have raised the question that if he had done things properly in his time,
07:00he would have been a People's Man.
07:02He participates in every small and big character.
07:05But somewhere or the other, this is what happened with the BJP government.
07:08They do come with the issue of development.
07:11But the work of development is somewhere in the cold.
07:14Definitely, Pankaj.
07:16As you said, if we talk about C.P. Singh, no doubt, his biggest USP is his accessibility.
07:24Anyone can approach him at any time.
07:28He is always ready for the local community.
07:35Many people love him.
07:38Down to earth, polite.
07:40All the good qualities of a good leader, he possesses.
07:44No doubt.
07:45As far as development is concerned, we can't say that because we have been to different states.
07:52The development of Ranchi has not happened all of a sudden.
07:55There is a vice that says that there is a lack of development here.
07:58The second vice is that the development of Ranchi or the development of the cities of Jharkhand
08:04has not happened because for the past 5 years, there has been another government.
08:09Not C.P. Singh's government.
08:11C.P. Singh is the MLA here.
08:14Catch-22 situation.
08:16The fact is, after Jharkhand is formed,
08:20I think Jharkhand will celebrate its 25th Foundation Day the day after tomorrow.
08:26So, for the past 25 years, the Indian People's Party has ruled here for a long time.
08:31And if they want to do things in a better way, then they don't have to go on all these rhetorics.
08:40Absolutely.
08:41In fact, the three states that were formed in 2000,
08:45Uttarakhand separated from UP, Chhattisgarh separated from Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand separated from Bihar.
08:55So, in all these states, BJP ruled for the longest time.
08:59And BJP could have taken full responsibility for the construction of the new state.
09:03BJP has taken responsibility, but BJP has lagged behind in developing it.
09:09What can I say?
09:11BJP has been more involved in popularity and propaganda.
09:14And now BJP has become a pattern.
09:17All the elections, now I think even the Panchayat elections, will be fought on the basis of nationalism.
09:24Absolutely.
09:25We spoke to a lot of such voters who said that the issues are not much here, but for nationalism.
09:30And the definition of nationalism is different for everyone.
09:33Anyway, this is a matter of voters and their personal choices.
09:37Keshav, on One India, the coverage of the first phase of the Jharkhand election will continue in this way.
09:44For the second phase, we will continue to send you ground reporting from Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
09:52For now, I, Pankaj Kumar Mishra and Keshav Karn, will take your leave.
09:57Don't miss out. Log on to OneIndia.com for more updates.
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