Hemant Soren: From Jharkhand’s youngest CM to seasoned leader and fighter for tribal rights

He is currently in the eye of the storm in the wake of a crisis situation in Jharkhand where a threat to Hemant Soren being 'disqualified' as an MLA has arise

Chief Minister Hemant Soren who may well lose his seat in Jharkhand’s Assembly because of a mining lease extension case against him, has evolved from being the tribal state’s youngest chief minister to being a seasoned leader and one of the pillars of the alliance opposing the NDA.

Soren is currently riding out a political storm which has been whipped up after the Election Commission sent a report to the Governor of Jharkhand which is believed to have recommended his disqualification as an MLA as a mining lease given to him was renewed during his tenure as the state’s chief minister. Besides the threat of disqualification, which will force him to resign from his office, his aides believe the BJP is out to topple the ruling UPA by splitting the Congress and JMMJRC , the key partners of the alliance.

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The 47-year leder who was groomed into a leadership role by his father and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMMJRC ) supremo Shibu Soren after his elder brother Durga Soren died of suspected kidney failure in 2009, is possibly facing his toughest test so far. Instead of wilting, till now Soren has displayed a fighting spirit, lashing out at the NDA -led Central government for "unleashing" all constitutional agencies to "de-stabilise a democratically elected government".

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Ahead of festivals of Dussehra and Diwali both of which celebrate the triumph of good over evil, the tribal leader conjured up an image of a fight between the two forces by asserting on Friday that "satanic forces" were all out to execute “evil designs.” Born to Shibu Soren, a tribal leader whose movement forced the central government to carve out the Jharkhand state from Bihar and wife Roopi on August 10, 1975 at Nemra village near Hazaribag, he did his intermediate from Patna High School and later joined Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra in Ranchi, before dropping out. He went on to become a Rajya Sabha member in 2009-2010, before becoming Jharkhand's youngest chief minister in 2013, with the support of the Congress and the RJD. His first stint as CM was, however, short-lived as the BJP seized power in 2014 in the politically unstable state and Raghubar Das took charge.

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In 2014, he won a seat in the Jharkhand assembly and became leader of the opposition. In 2016, when the BJP-led government tried to amend the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, to allow leasing out of tribal land for non-agricultural purposes, Hemant Soren led the opposition in an agitation, claiming the move was an attempt to "loot land" from Adivasis (tribals) and impoverished small farmers . Soren also worked on stitching together a pre-poll alliance with old friends - the Congress and the RJD based on his opposition to BJP’s policies. With support from his allies, Soren then stormed to power in 2019, with his party (JMMJRC ) alone winning 30 Assembly seats, its highest tally ever.

During his political ascendency, Soren was able to sideline senior leaders of the JMMJRC , Stephen Marandi, Simon Marandi and Hemlal Murmu, prompting them to quit the party. While Murmu and Simon Marandi joined the BJP, Stephen Marandi floated a party along with the first BJP chief minister of the state, Babulal Marandi. Stephen later returned to the JMMJRC fold, accepting Hemant Soren as the party's leader. Soren has also been widely credited with launching innovative schemes that include ‘Apke Adhikar, Apki Sarkar, Apke Dwar’ (your rights, your government at your doorstep).

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He also announced a cashback of Rs 25 per litre on petrol for the poor and lower-middle-class two-wheeler users starting January 26 this year. A few days ago, he announced expanding overseas scholarships for talented youth from the state to fulfil their dreams of pursuing higher studies abroad. The state Cabinet earlier this week gave its nod for creation of 50,000 posts of teachers. Active on social media, Soren has been voicing not only grievances against the Centre that included 'apathy towards state in allocating vaccines' and pointing out that 'Central firms owe huge Rs 1.36 lakh crore to the state'.

Jharkhand was the first state to have airlifted trapped migrant workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. In December, he went all guns blazing at the BJP and said that his government was forced to enact anti-mob lynching legislation after the "Ravana" party came to power at Centre, "ruining the social fabric" of the country. In a setback to Soren, the BJP in February this year alleged that Soren, while heading the mining department, allotted a stone chips mining lease to himself in 2021 in Ranchi’s Argora area, by flouting norms. The BJP accused Soren of allocating a mining lease to himself and close aides, including political advisor Pankaj Mishra.

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Mishra is in judicial custody after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him following raids conducted to unearth alleged illegal mining in the state. In April, Advocate General Rajiv Ranjan told the Jharkhand High Court that the state government had committed “a mistake” and the lease awarded to Soren had been surrendered. In his personal life the young chief minister who is an ardent follower of freedom fighter and folk hero Birsa Munda, is believed to like badminton, books and cycling and is married to Kalpana and has two children.