Rebel without a pause: Shibu Soren (1944–2025)

With Shibu Soren’s passing on 4 August 2025, at the age of 81, the last of the ‘tribal titans’ has departed. Unlike many other Jharkhand stalwarts, who shared his belief in the land of forests as a viable state, he was lucky to see that state being formed — and transformed. Having retired from public life he was, for the past 15 years, largely confined to his home. Yet, he remained the father figure and undisputed leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) until the very end.

Shibu Soren spoke sparingly about his formative years. He would shrug away questions with his characteristic piercing look and simply say that like all Adivasis, his life too was shaped by struggle. His father, a school teacher, was killed when he was barely 13 years old. It is said that although the family and the villagers knew the mahajans (moneylenders) who were behind the killing, no names were shared with the police. Folklore has it that Shibu Soren’s mother told the police not to bother — her son would avenge his father’s tragic death.

It is not clear whether or how this happened. But it is recorded fact that the teenage Shibu Soren turned rebel, rallying tribals against the all-powerful moneylender–landlord nexus.

The resistance was also against the traders, forest department officials and policemen who oppressed and exploited the tribals. Clashes, police firings and arrests followed. Shibu Soren and his ‘band of brothers’ hid in the forest for months, eluding cops, armed officials of the forest department and hired mercenaries.

That didn’t prevent his name from cropping up on lists of accused in every other incident in police records. Indeed, an arrest warrant was issued against him as late as 2005 — for a clash that occurred in 1974! This forced him to resign as Union minister in the UPA government.

Shibu Soren won his first election in 1980 at the age of 36. He went on to be elected eight times to the Lok Sabha and twice to the Rajya Sabha. He headed governments in Jharkhand thrice, the first time for 10 days, and thereafter for two stints of five months each — too short and too erratic to really assess him as an administrator.

Around 2010, Shibu Soren retreated from public life, while keeping his doors open to a steady stream of ordinary people wanting to meet him. His distrust of governments, state agencies and the bureaucracy ran deep, which might explain his hands-off approach even after his son Hemant Soren became the chief minister of Jharkhand.

The reason for his distrust was simple. Governments, he believed, had but one aim: to take away what belongs to the people — jal, jungle, jameen (water, forest, land), i.e., everything.

What might once have sounded like a simplistic view of governments is unfortunately looking more and more like god’s honest truth. Shibu Soren was possibly — and wilfully — naïve about the role of capital, finance, bureaucracy, the law courts and the police. He remained a sceptic, telling interviewers that change, if any, would have to be ushered in by the people. While he expected little or nothing from governments, his faith in his people did not waver. The Adivasis’ only fault, he said, was lack of education and a fondness for liquor. (He himself remained a vegetarian and a teetotaller for the better part of his life.)

His passion for education manifested early. Having barely finished his own schooling, he regretted his inadequate education. Concurrent with his resistance against oppressors, and even when he was out of power, he set up schools. Tribal people, he believed, had to be educated to avoid being exploited.

When the JMM was formed in 1973, Shibu Soren was barely 29 years old. Yet he had already acquired a cult following among the Santhals, who saw him as their saviour from oppression. (Santhals even believed he could bilocate — possibly a tribute to his mobility in the forests during his fugitive years.)

His following among the other major tribes of Jharkhand — the Mundas, Oraons and the Ho — was relatively limited, but people saw in him a militant leader and social reformer who was not afraid of taking their side. His attitude earned him the moniker ‘Dishom Guru’.

Inspired by trade unionists Binod Bihari Mahto and A.K. Roy, a Marxist and thrice-elected MP from Dhanbad, the formation of the JMM extended outreach to the workers in the coal mines, the Kurmis and other social groups.

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Shibu Soren himself did not lead any significant agitation for the creation of Jharkhand post-1980. Sporadic agitations for a separate state were spearheaded by smaller groups like the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU). In 2000, Jharkhand — along with Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh — was granted statehood by the NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

This writer remembers meeting Soren after his victory in 1980 at the Ranchi guesthouse of the National Coal Development Corporation Ltd (later Central Coalfields Ltd). Soren was in the dining hall, having just finished breakfast with three colleagues. When asked why he was scrutinising the bill with such a look of amazement, he said: “Was it a mistake? Could breakfast be so expensive?”

The grand total of 7 rupees and 25 paise was indeed correct. His daily food budget, he explained, rarely exceeded a rupee!

While controversies and allegations of crime and corruption dogged his political career, his popularity among his people remained unsullied. They simply did not give any credence to the accusations — ranging from the infamous JMM bribery case to his alleged role in the disappearance of a personal secretary. (He was acquitted by the courts, but the taint remained.)

It rained heavily the day Shibu Soren was cremated at his ancestral village in Nemra. The arrangements were spartan — and inadequate for the crowd of mourners who turned up. While some may have turned up for the photo op, most came from a genuine desire to pay their respects, taking buses, even cycling from afar to get there.

They did not mind getting drenched in the rain. They wept openly. Their champion now rested in peace and in power.