Amid allegations of worsening law and order situation, particuarly incidents of rape, the JMM-Congress-RJD government in Jharkhand led by Hemant Soren completed one year in office, as the state battled the COVID- 19 pandemic and a massive migrant crisis in 2020.
An average of four rape cases were reported in the tribal-dominated state every day, with most victims being minors, according to state police records.
The rape of over 1600 women and girls in a year gave the opposition BJP a stick to beat the Soren government with, claiming a slide in law and order since it was ousted from power in the assembly elections in 2019.
The JMM-Congress-RJD coalition government, which proved its majority in the Assembly in the first week of January after being sworn in on December 29 last year, was greeted with a rude shock as Pathalgarhi supporters lynched seven people in West Singhbhum district's Gudri village on January 20.
Pathalgarhi is the name given to a tribal protest which seeks autonomy for village councils (Gramsabha). Those demanding Pathalgarhi want no laws of the land be applicable to the tribal people in the area. The Pathalgarhis reject government rights over their forests and rivers.
As part of the movement, Pathalgarhis erect a stone plaque or signboard outside a village or a particular area, declaring it a sovereign territory and prohibiting the entry of outsiders.
The seven people who were killed were opposed to the stir.
Amid the raging farmer protests at Delhi's borders against three agricultural laws, the Hemant Soren government announced a farm loan waiver of up to ₹ 50,000.
A week after the imposition of the nationwide lockdown in March, Jharkhand reported its first COVID-19 case when a Malaysian woman, who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin and was found hiding in a mosque in Ranchi, tested positive for the infection.
Since then, 1,14,650 people have tested positive for COVID-19, of whom 1,025 have succumbed to the infection. The state now has 1,604 active cases, while 1,12,021 people have recovered from the disease so far.
The Soren government came in for fulsome praise when it airlifted stranded state residents from far off places like Ladakh and the Andaman and Nicobar islands during the lockdown.
Shibu Soren, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha supremo and father of the chief minister, and state BJP chief Deepak Prakash were elected to the Rajya Sabha in June.
The ruling coalition also won the bypolls for Dumka and Bermo assembly seats.
Former chief minister Raghubar Das and Koderma MP Annapurna Singh were made BJP national vice-presidents.
Several wanted Naxals, including Jidan Gudia and Punai Oraon, were killed in police encounters while many red rebels were arrested.
Former chief minister Babulal Marandi merged his JVM-P party with the BJP in February. The saffron party elected him as its legislative party leader.
Speaker Rabindranath Mahato, however, is yet to accord him the status of the Leader of Opposition and the matter is pending with the Jharkhand High Court.
The BJP accused RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, serving sentences after being convicted in fodder scam cases, of attempting to topple the Nitish Kumar government in neighbouring Bihar by offering ministerial positions to the ruling NDA MLAs.
Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi circulated an audiotape of an alleged conversation between Lalu Prasad and an NDA MLA where the former is purportedly heard trying to entice him to vote for the opposition Grand Alliance's candidate for the assembly speaker's post.
As the development triggered a huge row, Prasad was shifted from the bungalow of the director of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) to the hospital's paying ward.
