 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2024) |
Shailendra Mahto is an Indian politician. He was the member of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. He represented twice [1] as a Member of Parliament from Jamshedpur Lok Sabha constituency. [2] [3]
Mahto was born on 11th October 1953 in the Village Setahaka near Chakradharpur in erstwhile Bihar, now in Jharkhand. Belonging to the Kudmi farmer community, his father, Rabi Charan Mahato, was a Government employee (Gram Sewak), and his mother, Ludhi Rani, took care of the household. He dropped out of school after 10th class and left his home to commit his life to the exploration of spiritual pursuits. He explored multiple spiritual places but returned home after not being able to find a spiritual guru to guide him on his spiritual journey. Upon returning home he gave continuing his education a thought because of his interest in literature and writing, a habit that had stayed with him. He thought about his future for a while after returning home upon which he decided to join the Jharkhand Andolan.[ citation needed ]
1969
The first movement he joined was the Beedi Majdoor Andolan at Chakradharpur. After that, he joined the fight for the rights to the tendu leaf and mahua trees in the forests of Saranda, Porahat and Kolhan, which had been closed off to the local tribal populations that depended on them for their livelihood by the forest authorities. This was his first experience as a labour activist fighting for the forest rights of the local tribals of Jharkhand. The fruit-bearing trees like Mango, Mahua, Karanj, Kusum, Dori, etc, are a large part of the sustenance of the villagers.
1973
This was the first year that he joined the rising Jharkhand Andolan that put forward the demand for a separate state for Jharkhandis. The first mass rally he attended was in Jamshedpur 20th May 1973 after which in 1975 he accompanied N.E.Horo a sitting MP who called together a movement "Chalo Delhi for Jharkhand separate state" along with a large group of activists to Delhi, where a memorandum regarding the Jharkhand state was given to Indira Gandhi. It was at this protest that he was arrested with his fellow activists for the first time.
1978
As a young leader he oversaw the organisation of the Direct Action Movement ( 15 August 1978 - 15 September 1978) which was declared by the Jharkhand Party president and MP N.E. Horo stating that the people of the region would not pay taxes until the statehood of Jharkhand was declared by the central government, it was carried out across the Singbhum districts. This saw him committing to bigger roles within the Jharkhand movement as an emerging figure.
He joined the JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) on 25th Sep 1978 in a rally organised in his hometown Chakradharpur. With this, he entered a new phase of the Great Jharkhand movement across the regions of Kolhan and Ranchi where along with the demand for Jharkhand state, people also put forward the slogan of Jal(water) Jungle(forest) Jameen(land), which was a declaration of ownership of the natural resources of the land. [4]
This was called the Great Jharkhand Movement owing to the unprecedented mobilisation of the masses, which caused worry among the leadership of Bihar, who decided to crack down on these gatherings with firings upon the common people and started hunting down the leaders. The villages of Ichahatu, Serengda, Gua, Baipi, and Sarjom Hatu, among others, experienced the worst of the atrocities by the Bihar police, resulting in the death of 18 Andolankaris by firing. This only led to more anger among the public and bolstered the movement against the Bihar government.
Mahato being a wanted leader of the movement was a big target for the authorities who were tracking him down. So much so that he had a shoot-at-sight order issued and also a reward price of 10000 on his head issued by the Bihar government. This led to firing on him during meeting held in Serengda, where two sisters Rahil Dang and Ajarmani almost got shot while protecting him and three men Somnath Longa, Dubiya Honhaga and Lupa Munda laid down their lives in the subsequent firing which also led to many injuries among the public. [5] Constantly being on the run from the police finally brought him to Jamshedpur his future political base and constituency.
A report by the People's Union for Civil Liberties from the time read as follows: "Last year, on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday, the villagers of Serengda responded to the call by symbolically cutting down some saplings in a nearby teak nursery. They were also alleged to have burnt down some temporary jhuggis. The police in the area identified Shailendra Mahato a young man in his twenties, as the leader of the movement in the area. He is charged with a long list of crimes and is wanted by the police. [6]
1984 - Contested Lok Sabha election for the first time from Jamshedpur on a JMM ticket lost to Gopeshwar Das.
1986 - Became secretary of JMM.
1987 - General secretary of JMM.
1988 - Member of Committee on Jharkhand Matters formed by the Rajiv Gandhi government to bring a resolution to the Jharkhand Movement.
1989 - Contested and won the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha seat after defeating the Congress Party Candidate Chandan Bagchi.
1991 - Contested 3rd time and retained his 2nd term as the MP from Jamshedpur constituency defeating the BJP candidate Amar Pratap Singh.
1993 - This year was arguably the biggest and most controversial year of Mahato's political career that brought him to the stage of national politics. What began with a no-confidence motion passed against the Congress government culminated in a trial and a 3-year imprisonment verdict against then PM P.V Narsimha Rao and his aide Buta Singh that was later turned down. Mahato was one of the 4 MPs who were allegedly given bribes for votes in the Lok Sabha to ensure the survival of the Congress government. Mahato became the turning point in the whole case after he decided to turn approver and accept the fact that they had received money which he believed was a part of party funds and which he unwittingly put in a bank account.
In the end all the MPs including Mahato were let off after the supreme court passed a judgement that read, “No member of Parliament shall be liable to any proceedings in court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him in Parliament or any committee thereof, and no person shall be so liable in respect of the publication by or under the authority of either house of parliament of any report, paper, votes or proceedings.” The purpose of this constitutional protection was to defend the independence and integrity the parliament. This case is considered a significant moment in the history of Indian Parliament and Indian Judiciary. The verdict still evokes strong reactions from all sections of society including the Judiciary and general public.
1996 - After getting national attention from the case Mahato decided to return his focus back to the matter of Jharkhand independence . The realisation that only a national party could help the Jharkhand cause he decided to leave the JMM. Another big reason was his turning into an approver in the scandal and accepting guilt in the case had alienated him from the JMM who had denied any wrongdoing.
He was then approached by then general secretary of the BJP K.N. Govindacharya who offered Mahato a ticket from BJP as BJP was looking to gain a foothold in the newly forming state of Jharkhand, a fact which was slowly becoming inevitable owing to the growing strength of the demand of the movement. He became a member of the BJP in a huge rally in Ranchi where Atal Bihari Vajpayee personally attended the event testifying to the weight they were prepared to put behind Shailendra Mahato and the Jharkhand movement.
1998 - While considering Mahato for a ticket from Jamshedpur, the top BJP leadership saw potential in his wife Abha Mahato as a MP candidate as the ongoing case against Mahato prevented him from contesting elections, hence they went ahead and gave the ticket to her. She went on to win the 1998 election against Russy Modi who was an Ex- Tata Steel MD and a much beloved figure of Jamshedpur.
1999 - Abha Mahato retained her seat from Jamshedpur in an early election against Ghanshyam Mahato a Congress candidate.
2000 - On 15 November 2000 Jharkhand achieved statehood.
Writing has been one of the primary strengths of Mahato that has served as the foundation of his political thought. He has been a writer from his early days when he used to write for “Singhbhumi Ekta” a weekly journal that was published out of Chaibasa, from there he moved onto local newspapers like Prabhat Khabar. He had become widely respected for his writing and became known as a leader who was adept at bringing the voice of the movement to newspapers, where he either himself wrote articles or became an educated source regarding various facets like history and laws pertaining to the Jharkhandi people and movement.[ citation needed ]
Mahato's political acumen and knowledge relating to Jharkhand stems from his obsession with reading and compiling knowledge from a wide range of sources that contribute to the collective knowledge of Jharkhand, a state that severely lacks preservation of local histories.
Jharkhand Ki Samargatha is a book that is considered his magnum opus. It is a book that documents the history of the Jharkhand Andolan with details records of the people that took part in it. The book received its biggest validation when it was chosen as a primary source of identification of revolutionaries by the Jharkhand government (BJP) that started a new pension scheme for the people that fought in the Jharkhand Andolan. A small monthly amount given as a token of respect by the state. No other work has to date detailed the characters of the movement in as much detail as this book which was seen as a worthwhile tribute by Mahato to the thousands that put their lives on the line and hundreds that actually gave their lives in the revolution. This piece of history would have been lost if not for Mahato's efforts among many others in preserving it.
| 1989 | Jharkhand Raj Aur Upniveshvad | |||
| 1999 | Desh aur Dhristi | |||
| 2011 | Jharkhand ki Samargatha | |||
| 2021 | Jharkhand me Vidroh ki Itihas | |||
| 2022 | Journey of Jharkhand movement (English translation of Jharkhand Ki Samargatha by Santosh Kiro) |
1991 - Chairman Adityapur Industrial Development Area.
2005 - Chairman RRDA Ranchi
He is married to Abha Mahato, also a politician. [7]
He has two sons and lives in Sonari, Jamshedpur.
Shibu Soren is an Indian politician who is currently member of Rajya Sabha representing Jharkhand and the leader of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. He formerly served as 3rd Chief Minister of Jharkhand, first in 2005 for 10 days, then from 2008 to 2009 and again from 2009 to 2010. He is also the President of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) political party, a constituent of the INDIA Alliance. He was the member of Lok Sabha from Dumka from 1980 to 1984, 1989 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2019 and Minister for Coal in the Union Cabinet from 2004 to 2004, 2004 to 2005 and from 2006 to 2006, when a Delhi district court found him guilty in the murder of his private secretary Shashi Nath Jha in 1994. He has also been indicted in the past on other criminal charges.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is a political party in the Indian state of Jharkhand which was founded by Binod Bihari Mahato. Shibu Soren is the president of the JMM. JMM is also an influential political party in the state of Odisha and parts of neighbouring of states. Its election symbol for Jharkhand is Bow and Arrow.
Arjun Munda is an Indian politician. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, a former Chief Minister of the Indian state of Jharkhand and the former Minister of Tribal Affairs and Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare in the Second Modi ministry. He has also served as a member of parliament, having been elected to the 15th Lok Sabha from the Jamshedpur constituency in the 2009 parliamentary elections. The BJP has appointed him as one of the general secretary of the party.
Kariya Munda is an Indian politician who served as Deputy Speaker of the 15th Lok Sabha. He has been a minister in the Government of India, serving in the governments led by the Janata Party in 1977 and by Bhartiya Janata Party from 1999 onwards.
Sunil Kumar was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India, representing the constituency of Jamshedpur in the eastern state of Jharkhand. He was General Secretary of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) political party. He was assassinated by Naxalite rebels who subscribe to Communist ideology.
Babulal Marandi is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its 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. 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 4 July 2023.
R.L.P. Verma was a former member of Lok Sabha and a leader of Bhartiya Janata Party. He was elected to Lok Sabha from Kodarma in Jharkhand state in India for six terms. Verma represented Jamua Assembly constituency once, from where he was elected in legislative assembly elections in 1972, on the ticket of Bhartiya Jana Sangh. However, on the call of Jai Prakash Narayan for Total Revolution, he resigned from his legislative assembly membership and became a part of the "Sampurna Kranti movement". He was made a candidate of Janata Party for Lok Sabha elections in 1977, and was subsequently elected to lower house of Indian Parliament. Verma has represented Kodarma Lok Sabha constituency for five terms, making him the longest serving Member of Parliament (MP) from this constituency. He was one of the two Member of Parliament of BJP during transformation of Jana Sangh into Bhartiya Janata Party. Verma played instrumental role in strengthening Bhartiya Jana Sangh and later Bhartiya Janata Party in Bihar-Jharkhand region.
Ajoy Kumar a former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, was served in the 15th Lok Sabha as an MP for Jamshedpur. He is the AICC In-charge of 3 states namely Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee, Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee and Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee. He is a member of the CWC. He is also the National Spokesperson of Indian National Congress. He was also the Former President of Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee.
Suman Mahato was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. A member of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) political party, she represented the constituency of Jamshedpur in the eastern state of Jharkhand.
Abha Mahato is an Indian parliamentarian from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.
Bidyut Baran Mahato is an Indian politician and a member of parliament to the 16th Lok Sabha from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. He won the 2014 Indian general election being a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. He also won the Lok Sabha Elections held in May 2019. He became the first candidate from Jamshedpur Lok Sabha Constituency to win the Lok Sabha Election held in May 2024 three times consecutively.
The Kudmi Mahato are a tribal community in the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha of India. They are primarily agriculturalist.
Mahto or Mahato is a surname used by several castes and communities in Nepal and the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha in India. Mahato is also a popular surname among Nepalese Zamindari villages of Madhesh Province where it is a title given to the headman of a village ward and their duties were to maintain peace in his area, and collect revenue for the zamindar. In Chotanagpur plateau region of Jharkhand, including in the Oraon tribal society, Mahato was historically a title of the village chief. In Bihar, the surname Mahto is primarily used by people belonging to Kushwaha caste. While in Jharkhand, it is a term most often associated with Koeri and Kurmi caste.
Binod Bihari Mahato was an advocate and politician. He founded Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in 1972 and was a leader of the movement for the establishment of the separate state of Jharkhand. He was a member of Bihar Vidhan Sabha in 1980, 1985 and 1990; he was also a member of the Lok Sabha from Giridih in 1991.
Nirmal Mahato was an Indian political activist and prominent leader of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. He was founder of All Jharkhand Students Union. He was prominent leader in movement for separate state of Jharkhand.
Joba Majhi is an Indian politician from Jharkhand. She is a 5-time MLA and was the Minister of Social Welfare, Women and Child Development and Tourism from 2019 to 2024 in the Hemant Soren government. She won the 2024 Indian general election in Jharkhand from Singhbhum Lok Sabha constituency.
Bisheshwar Prasad Keshari, popularly known as Dr BP Keshari, was an educationist and writer. He was a prominent leader in the movement for a separate state, Jharkhand.
Amit Mahto is an Indian politician and a member of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly from Silli and won Vidhan Sabha election in 2014. He was a member of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and considered the face of youth in the Jharkhand Political Party. Former JMM MLA from Silli, Amit Mahto has resigned from the party, accused the leadership of compromising the interest of the people of Jharkhand and forming a new political party Khatiyani Jharkhandi Party on 6 April 2022 to give rights to the local Khatiyani People of Jharkhand.
This is the alphabetical categorised list of statewide, regional and local political families involved in the politics and various elections of Jharkhand state of India at state and National level. The Soren family has produced two Chief Ministers, and family members have largely led the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) since 1972. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Congress (INC) and All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) also has several dynastic leaders.