Shibu Soren (1944-2025): Tribals lose their icon

“Guruji”, as co-founder of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Shibu Soren was called, loomed over every state election since the formation of Jharkhand in 2000, following an agitation he spearheaded.

It is said that Soren, seen as a messiah of the state’s tribal people, particularly the Santhals, to which he belonged, had visited every tribal village in the state,

where the community constitutes 26 per cent of the population. In his over five decade long political career, he swung between activism and politics, state and Centre, alliances led by BJP and Congress.

After first being elected as Lok Sabha MP from Dumka in 1980, he went on to win the general elections seven times. His was on his second stint as Rajya Sabha MP, when he died.

Though he became chief minister thrice, he did not complete a single term, as political and graft charges haunted him. The court hearings and convictions did hurt his political career but the tribals, for whom 28 assembly seats are reserved in the state, revered him.

He had fought the money lending system, the social structure and became the face of the statehood agitation. In 1972, he had tied up with Kurmi Mahato leader Binod Bihari Mahato and left trade union leader AK Roy to form the JMM. Soren took command of the party in the 1980s, passing on the legacy to his son and Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren in April this year, as his health deteriorated.

He had to quit twice as union minister over allegations against him. The 1975 Chirrudih massacre case, in which he was named as one of the main 69 accused, kept hounding him. It involved the killing of 10 people, including nine Muslims, in clashes between tribals and Muslims. Soon after the Manmohan Singh government came to power in 2004, a warrant was issued against him. He first went underground but later resigned after Singh asked him to do so. After a month in judicial custody, he was released on bail and re-inducted as coal minister following a deal for a Congress-JMM alliance before the 2005 Assembly polls in the state. In March 2005, the Jharkhand governor invited him to form the government but he could not manage the confidence vote and resigned within 10 days, the shortest of his three stints as chief minister.

He returned as Union minister but again in 2006 had to resign in the wake of his conviction for the 1994 murder of his former secretary Shashi Nath Jha who it was said had got to know about the monetary deal between Congress and four JMM MPs, including Soren, to save the then minority PV Narasimha Rao government which was facing a no-confidence motion in 1993. Soren’s role in coal block allocations during his tenure as coal minister in 2006 had also been questioned. None of it, however, dented the popularity, particularly among the tribals of the activist politician, with his long hair, flowing beard, dhoti-kurta and gamcha.

Sharing the news of his death, his son Hemant Soren wrote on X “beloved Dishom Guruji has left us. I lost everything today.”

 

deathDumkaGurujiJharkhand Mukti MorchaJharkhand PoliticsLok SabhaobituaryPV Narasimha RaoShibu Soren