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Babulal Marandi (; born 11 January 1958) is an Indian politician and a prominent tribal leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) . He is currently the Leader of Opposition in Jharkhand legislative assembly. He was the first Chief Minister of Jharkhand and the founder 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 also 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 Jharkhand BJP president on 4 July 2023.
Babulal Marandi is currently the Jharkhand state president of the BJP.
Later, he moved to Ranchi where he did his post-graduation in Geography from Ranchi University. 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.
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.
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 Santhals, led the tally by defeating Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Shibu Soren, another Santhal.
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.
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.
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.
Political career
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.
First CM of Jharkhand
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.
Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM)
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.
Bharatiya Janata Party
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.
Personal life
Babulal Marandi is married to Shanti Murmu. His younger son Anup Marandi was killed in a Naxalite attack at Chilkhari village in Jharkhand's Giridih district on 27 October 2007. Former Jharkhand CM Marandi on their hitlist, Naxals kill son, 17 more
Electoral history
Indian general elections
^by-election
1967 Dumka 48,068 31.05 1991 126,528 28.34 1996 159,933 30.89 1998 277,334 47.01 1999 201,141 36.87 2004 Kodarma 366,656 44.4 2006^ 325,871 43 2009 199,462 25.6 2014 Dumka 158,122 17.51 2019 Kodarma 297,416 24.59
Jharkhand Legislative Assembly
External links
Categories: 1958 Births, Living People, Santali People, Chief Ministers Of Jharkhand, Chief Ministers From Bharatiya Janata Party, Lok Sabha Members From Jharkhand, People From Giridih District, People From Koderma District, Bharatiya Janata Party Politicians From Jharkhand, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha Politicians, Vishva Hindu Parishad Members, India Mps 1998–1999, India Mps 1999–2004, India Mps 2004–2009, India Mps 2009–2014, Jharkhand Mlas 2000–2005, Jharkhand Mlas 2019–2024, Jharkhand Mlas 2024–2029
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