Babulal Marandi (Hindi pronunciation: [Bābulāl maraṇḍi]; born 11 January 1958) is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its Jharkhand unit president.
He was the Union State Minister (MoS) for Forests & Environment of India in the BJP – led National Democratic Alliance Government in 1998 to 2000.
[2] Babulal was born in a remote Kodia Bandh village under Tisri block of Giridih district of the now Jharkhand province.
[1] 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.
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.
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.
[3] 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.
[1] His younger son Anup Marandi was killed in a Naxal attack at Chilkhari village in Jharkhand's Giridih district on 27 October 2007.