Initially viewed as a reluctant politician, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren slowly grew into the role of his father Shibu Soren’s political successor. Now, beleaguered by corruption allegations and staring at possible disqualification from the Assembly, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) president has taken the fight to the BJP and there are no more signs of any reluctance that may have existed in the past. On Monday, after more than a week of suspense over his future in the Assembly, Soren outmanoeuvred the Opposition party and won a trust vote 48-0 (the BJP boycotted it), staving off any uncertainty about his government’s fate, at least for the time being as Governor Ramesh Bais’ order on his possible disqualification is still pending. It was a different Soren who came to the Assembly for the trust vote. He had made up his mind to lash out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bais, the Election Commission of India (ECI), and state BJP leaders. Dressed up in his white kurta-pyjama, a rare sartorial choice for the CM in the Assembly, Soren appeared livid and took on the Central government. “The effect of the 2019 loss on the BJP leaders of the state has been such that they are struggling to digest it. When they are not able to face us politically, they use constitutional institutions in non-BJP states to trample upon elected and popular state governments,” Soren said. Accusing the BJP of dividing people along religious lines and criticising Bais, Soren said, “Here, there are so many politicians who appear like a ghost in places wherever there are Hindu-Muslim conflicts … I think since August 25, a state (of confusion) has been a created by the ECI and the Governor. ECI says they have sent the letter, and the governor is quiet. However, when the UPA goes to meet him he accepts and says he will clear the air. But later, he exits from Raj Bhavan’s back door to Delhi.” Soren alleged that attempts had been made to intimidate the ruling coalition’s MLAs and indulge in horse-trading. “That is why this session has been called. See how strong we are inside the Assembly and outside. See the smile on the faces of the police, (Anganwadi) sevikas and sahayikas, teachers … what we have done for them … This is Shibu Soren’s son, a revolutionary’s son. Neither I have lived in fear nor will I do so in future.” The beginning Born to Shibu Soren and his wife Roopi on August 10, 1975, in the village of Nemra village near Hazaribag, Soren went on to join the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, but dropped out. He joined politics in 2008 and became active only after his brother Durga’s death the following year. In 2009, he became a Rajya Sabha member but resigned from the Upper House of Parliament the following year to become the deputy chief minister in the government led by BJP’s Arjun Munda. After serious differences developed between the BJP and the JMM, President’s rule was imposed in Jharkhand. In 2013, Soren became the state’s youngest chief minister after President’s rule was withdrawn. But the JMM lost to the BJP in the Assembly elections the following year. By then, Soren had started coming into his own. Despite the JMM’s debacle in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he maintained his firm hold over the party, said insiders. “Soren went to 81 constituencies, connected with the youths, and met people on motorbikes, maintaining ethics. His only motto was to not show off during this event. which helped him understand the problems of Jharkhand…He fought the election on the basic rights of the tribal community of ‘Jal, Jungle, Zameen (Land, Water, Forest)’,” a JMM functionary said. In the run-up to the Assembly elections later that year, Soren’s campaign resonated with people, not only in the Scheduled Tribe (ST)-reserved seats — the alliance won 26 of 28 such constituencies — but also in urban areas. The party won 30 seats in total, 11 more than its tally in 2014, and the alliance’s seat count stood at 47 (at present, 49). Soren’s troubles Cut to August 2022, the CM seemed to be in a sea of trouble. The ECI held him guilty of misusing his position by allotting himself a stone-mining lease last year — Soren held the mining portfolio — and advised Bais to disqualify Soren as MLA under the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The month before, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Soren’s aide Pankaj Mishra in connection with alleged financial irregularities in the MGNREGS rural job guarantee scheme in 2010. The agency has also arrested state Mining Secretary Pooja Singhal, who has since been suspended and removed from her position, in the case. In late July, three Congress MLA were arrested for allegedly planning to topple the government. In addition, the High Court is also hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) plea alleging money laundering by Soren and his family through shell companies. Despite the corruption allegations hanging over his head and the EC’s opinion bringing uncertainty to his political future, Soren remained undeterred. On August 26, he visited Mahuadanr in Latehar district for a government programme. There, he tore into the BJP. “Their ploy will not stop us and we are not scared of them. Our forefathers weeded the fear out of us long ago. In our minds, there is no place for fear,” Soren said, adding that Adivasis were not “power hungry”. The same day, he took to Twitter and accused the BJP-led Centre of “unleashing” constitutional agencies to “destabilise a democratically elected government”. The following day, projecting an air of calm, the CM and the ruling coalition’s legislators boarded three buses and left for a day trip to Khunti. On August 31, 32 MLAs of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) were flown from Ranchi to Congress-governed Chhattisgarh amid fears of alleged poaching attempts by the BJP to topple the government. Soren stayed back in Ranchi, saying the ruling coalition was “preparing a strategy” to handle the situation. At the time, the CM promised a “solid reply” to those allegedly planning to bring down his government. The response came on Monday. “At a time when we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of Independence, there was an agenda floated (Har Ghar Tiranga). The entire country knows about how the BJP sold flags. The BJP has not left any stone unturned. From selling the country, they are now selling the flag too. The ‘aaalaa kamaan’ (top leader, referring to Modi), who gives the slogan of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas’, does not help anyone. They don't take anyone along barring a few businessmen,” Soren said in the Assembly. Governance track record For Soren, there have been several hits and misses in the time he has governed the state. Among the bright spots were the decision to withdraw sedition cases filed against Pathalgadi activists and the state's response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Last month, Dhanik Guriya, a lawyer representing many accused in the sedition cases filed against Pathalgadi movement participants, told The Indian Express, “After the district-level committee on Pathalgadi submitted its report, the prosecutor was asked to withdraw the cases. Accordingly, many accused got relief and the court disposed of the cases as withdrawn. I don’t have the numbers as of now, but many people were relieved.” An MLA in the ruling coalition spoke of the political capital Soren earned because of the efficient response of the state administration to the Covid crisis. “The entire Covid-19 management for the two waves was handled despite scarce resources,” said the legislator. “However, he (Soren) did not give up and a certain image was built over a period of time of Soren as an effective manager. He used his social media platform as a part of his governance plan in the state with quick redressal. He had a great political capital.” Among other things, the Soren government brought in an urban job guarantee scheme, announced scholarships to the UK for tribal students, formulated a local employment policy, approved a policy of paying 13 months of salary to police personnel and granted them 20 extra leave days, increased the honorarium pay of Anganwadi sevikas and sahayikas, and gave government’s employees the option to opt for either the old pension scheme or the new pension scheme. Soren also raised the treatment grant, from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh per person, given to those suffering from incurable diseases. The government also decided not to renew the Netarhat firing range of the Army near Latehar. This had been a long-pending demand of Adivasis in the area. But the good work has been accompanied by missteps and unfulfilled promises. Though one of the JMM leader’s key poll planks was malnutrition and the resulting “hunger deaths” in tribal areas, the food minister in the Soren government claimed in the Assembly in 2020 that in the last five years there had not been a single case of “hunger or malnutrition deaths”. Then, a social audit of MGNREGS found several discrepancies in its implementation in Jharkhand and an increase in corruption between the first and the second wave of the Covid pandemic. There are gaps in the public distribution system (PDS), or the ration system, in various parts of the state and, in addition to these, the Soren government has neither dealt with the domicile policy — to define who is a “Jharkhandi” — and nor has it implemented the provisions of the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act. On Monday, the CM challenged state BJP leaders to get the Centre to agree to the demand of including a separate code for Sarna religion in the Census list. Jharkhand has already passed a resolution on the issue. Soren also challenged the BJP to get the Centre to approve resolutions that will be introduced in the future, such as one on 1932 being the cut-off year for the state domicile policy and one on increasing the quota percentage of Other Backward Classes (OBC). The state has 14 per cent reservation for OBCs at present.
