Newsmaker | Basant Soren: Short-tempered, good orator & not quite the finished article

Basant, the youngest son of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) founder Shibu Soren, was in the news earlier this week when he was asked about where he was when protests were held in his constituency following the death of two teenage girls. The MLA responded that he was in Delhi to “buy undergarments”. A source close to him said it was an attempt to “deflect the attention away from Hemant Soren” but the backlash for the comment showed that Basant had yet to learn the “art of realpolitik”. However, he was “getting there slowly”, the source added.

The younger Soren, who heads the JMM’s youth wing, started working in Dumka in 2005 and had first-hand experience of electoral politics during the 2016 Rajya Sabha elections when he lost by a whisker to the BJP’s Mahesh Poddar. Though Basant won an Assembly bypoll from Dumka in 2020, it was during the tense Madhupur by-election in April 2021 when he made his mark. The BJP deployed heavyweights such as Babulal Marandi, Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash, former CM Raghubar Das, and Godda MP Nishikant Dubey to campaign for their candidate Ganga Narayan. The bypoll was necessitated by the death of JMM’s Haji Hussain Ansari in September 2020 because of Covid-19. The BJP was desperate to win Madhupur as it had suffered two bypoll losses, in Dumka and Bermo, after the defeat in the 2019 Assembly elections. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government fielded Ansari’s son Hafizul Hassan who was a Cabinet minister by then. Political observers said in a way it was an exam of Basant Soren’s political ability and he succeeded.

A senior JMM MLA who was a part of the campaign team said, “He (Basant) spoke in Santhali language and asked the electorate to fight for what Shibu Soren, his father, achieved. His oratory skills are excellent in the Santhali language. Only his elder brother Hemant and party senior Champai Soren, a Cabinet minister, speak Santhali better than him.”

Track record and shortcomings

Basant won the bypoll from Dumka in 2020 after his brother vacated the seat and remained the representative of Barhait. During the Covid-19 second wave, he is said to have visited his constituency quite frequently and helped with vaccination efforts. A source in the district administration said, “Among tribals, there was a lot of hesitancy about vaccines. To combat this, we conducted camps and Basant Soren helped us make people understand the importance of vaccines. From the MLA funds, he also helped us buy two ambulances that were deployed in a few blocks.”

Asked about the projects undertaken in Dumka during Basant’s tenure, the district official said, “Various projects have been sanctioned under him, including a mini secretariat in Dumka, and more than hundreds of crores amount have been sanctioned to build a barrage over the Nunbil river in Masaliya block irrigation, to name a few.”

A JMM functionary, while pointing out the MLA’s drawbacks, admitted that Basant gets preference over other legislators “as he is Guruji’s (Shibu Soren) son”. The leader added, “But he is yet to mature. He is not the go-to person for key political decisions of the state. The only drawback these days is that he does not stay in the constituency for more than a week. Rarely, he comes twice to Dumka. His base is either Bokaro or Ranchi.”

A few also complained of the MLA’s short temper. In January 2021, miffed by repeated complaints of officers at the block level, Basant said at a public event in Dumka in Hindi, “It is unfortunate that even after your son is at the helm, you say that the BDO (Block Development Officer) or the CO (Circle Officer) don’t listen to you. It is unfortunate that you are not able to throw shoes and slippers (at them).”

The CM who was present at the event defended his brother in public, but insiders said Basant was rebuked behind closed doors, told to limit his speeches in Hindi, and keep his temper in check.

Basant’s affidavit

In its complaint to the governor, the BJP alleged that the Dumka MLA failed to disclose crucial information in the affidavit and continued engaging in his private business — he is accused of using his influence to obtain mining and other business rights — sources close to Basant said the affidavit contained all the information.

According to the poll panel affidavit, as of October 2020, Basant was a partner and owned shares in companies called Grand Mining Bokaro, Accent Minmet Resources Private Limited, and Maa Bhadrakali Alloys Private Limited. In the affidavit, the MLA showed investments worth Rs 16,600 in Grand Mining Works; Rs 25,000 in Accent Minmet Resources Private Limited, and Rs 75,000 in Maa Bhadrakali Alloys Private Limited. He also claimed to have given personal loans or advances to companies such as JSVN Ltd (Rs 8,413) and Maa Bhadrakali Alloys Private Limited (Rs 17,35,700).

Basant also disclosed liabilities, saying he took various loans from different companies — Rs 12 lakh from Accent Minmet Resources Private Limited, Rs 12 lakh from Astro Minerals Private Limited, Rs 37 lakh from JBR Shiva Infrastructure Private Limited, Rs 1.2 crore from Grand Mining Bokaro, and Rs 7 lakh from BK Enterprises.