It was 2019. Jharkhand assembly elections had already been announced. On an early winter morning, I was sitting beside the ageing Shibu Soren at his house in Dumka. A huge crowd, cutting across caste, creed and community, had gathered there and was waiting for their leader to flag off the campaign for the day. When we finished our conversation, Soren stood up and wished them good luck.
Two kilometre away, another crowd had gathered for the same reason — Prime Minister Narendra Modi was about to come and address the election campaign.
Days later, Soren’s magic worked again. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) formed the government, and this time they broke all previous records.
Soren’s death marks the end of an era in the national life of Adivasis. He instilled in them a sense of political struggle. Soren was destiny’s child. The gruesome murder of his father, Sobaran Manjhi, who was a teacher in a school in Gola beside Nemra, his ancestral village, changed his life. Sobaran stood against the exploitation by moneylenders and was eventually killed when Shivcharan, as Shibu was known in his early life, was still very young.
This incident turned Shivcharan into an adult overnight. From Shivcharan, he became Shibu, later Guruji and then Disom Guru — all through a life dedicated to eradicating moneylending, exploitation and oppression of Adivasis in the region. Legend has it that Shivcharan had promised that he would not shave his beard until he took revenge for his father’s murder. However, his revenge did not stop at just doing away with moneylending. The struggle led him to mainstream politics and resulted in the formation of Jharkhand as a separate state in 2000.
After the murder of his father, Soren raised a band of youth and led a movement against moneylenders in his region, who used to collect exorbitant interest against loans. Failure to pay them off would result in crop being snatched from the tribal farmers’ lands. Often, the moneylenders would even grab their lands and till them. Against this heinous practice, Soren carried out a Dhan katni (harvesting) movement. His supporters harvested the standing crops that the moneylenders had grown on the “grabbed” lands.
Due to the violent nature of the movement, many FIRs were filed against Soren. But the police could never catch him. In 1972, Soren, along with veteran communist leaders Binod Bihari Mahato and A.K. Roy, formed Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). However, he continued to live a life of a fugitive due to police lookouts and his animosity with the moneylenders. To his own people, Soren was a messiah, but to the others, including to political parties like the Congress, the ruling party of his time, Soren was an anathema. Soren’s stories soon reached the corridors of power — both in Patna and in Delhi. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi reportedly wanted him to be “under control”.
A young Indian Administrative Serviceofficer, K B Saxena, was sent to Dhanbad as its deputy commissioner to deal with him. Saxena, however, soon learnt that the government’s notes on Soren were not all true. Eventually, Saxena met Soren in the deep forest of Tundi, where Soren ran a ratri pathshala for the people in the region. He found Soren’s struggle legitimate and convinced him to surrender before the law. He even sent a letter to Mrs Gandhi briefing her on Soren’s life and struggle. This letter changed Soren’s political destiny. When he surrendered in 1975, Congress was willing to join hands with JMM, under the leadership of United Bihar’s chief minister Jagannath Mishra. Mishra arranged a meeting between Soren and Mrs Gandhi.
In 1980, Soren became an MP and emerged as the undisputed leader of the tribal people who had been long fighting for a separate state. He had, nonetheless, been accused in many cases of violence, including for Chirudih massacre. But one after another, he was acquitted in all of these cases.
From 1980 to the year 2000, Soren led the Jharkhand statehood movement from the front. He worked with leaders like Atal Behari Vajpayee, LK Advani, Lalu Prasad, and many others to achieve his goal — the statehood for Jharkhand.
The tribal people of India will remember Soren for his grit, determination and struggle for political self-determination, while for the people of Jharkhand, he will always be alive – in thoughts and resilience.
The writer is the head of the department, Journalism and Mass Communication, St. Xavier’s College, Ranchi
