A government with its priorities wrong may not get anywhere. By setting his heart on a saffronization agenda for the state, Jharkhand’s chief minister, Mr Arjun Munda, seems to have hopelessly mixed up his priorities. His plans to introduce legislation to ban cow slaughter and religious conversion in the state can have ominous signals. That Mr Munda has sought the help of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, Mr Ashok Singhal, in drafting the proposed legislation should be further cause for concern, given the VHP’s record of using these issues to spread hatred and mistrust between communities. It is not difficult to see, however, why the sangh parivar is anxious to work on a Hindutva agenda in the state. It is clearly part of the parivar’s strategy — already in place in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa — to spread its tentacles among the tribals. At one level, it is an attempt to broaden the mass base of Hindutva. At another — and more cynical — level, this is cold political calculation. Large sections of the tribal population, in Jharkhand as in the other states, are Christian and therefore suspicious of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Hindutva agenda. Banning cow slaughter or religious conversion is thus only superficially a religious issue; its political aims are unmistakable. Mr Munda must be too full of partisan prejudices not to see the dangerous consequences of his divisive game.

Yet, Mr Munda has reasons to be careful to ensure the religious freedom of Christians in the state. Attacks on Christians in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa should warn him against the VHP’s divisive ploys. The controversies over the domicile policy for government jobs have created enough fissures between the tribal and the non-tribal people in Jharkhand. It would be a sure recipe for disaster if seeds for greater ethnic and communal discord are sown in the name of religion. The two great challenges to governance in Jharkhand come from the Maoist outlaws and from its appalling poverty. Instead of wasting the government’s time and resources on a fake agenda, Mr Munda would do well to restore a semblance of order in large parts of the state where Maoist extremists hold the people to ransom. Simultaneously, he needs to reach the administration out to areas where the lack of basic facilities like drinking water and primary healthcare make helpless villagers easy pickings for the Maoists. But then, petty politics comes first to Indian politicians, especially in times of elections. Little wonder that Mr Munda has thought of the proposed bans weeks ahead of the coming polls.