Yearender 2024: From ‘Untraceable’ To CM - Hemant Soren Is Jharkhand’s Man Of 2024

On November 23, Maharashtra's elections dominated headlines, while Jharkhand's results also intrigued, highlighting Hemant Soren as a key political figure, writes ETV Bharat's Dipankar Bose.

Geographically located in different parts of India, the political fates of the two states were sealed on November 23. While the outcome of the Maharashtra elections drew more attention due to the state's size, the number of seats in the Assembly, and the political rifts and alliances between likely and unlikely political bedfellows, the Jharkhand election results were equally fascinating. And one man stood out above all — Hemant Soren.

The Prelude

For Hemant Soren, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) working president, 2024 has been a comeback year. Starting the year as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, to was questioned and later arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an alleged land scam case. From resigning as the Chief Minister and then leading the INDIA Bloc to a remarkable victory, and returning as the Chief Minister, Hemant can surely be termed a Newsmaker for 2024. Not only because he had made a grand comeback on the political palette of Jharkhand, but also because he was vindicated.

But not everything was as rosy at the start of 2024 as it seemed at the end. The 48-year-old youngest son of JMM patriarch Shibu Soren spent much of January shuttling between Delhi and Ranchi, meeting lawyers and party strategists, as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) closed in on him. In fact, the ED had issued a summons to Hemant as early as August 2023 for questioning in connection with a land scam case. The allegation was that the agency had traced documents linking Hemant to the illegal possession of immovable assets, which were further tied to the land mafia involved in illegal ownership transfers. As January 2024 came to a close, ED officials visited Hemant’s Delhi residence as part of the ongoing land scam investigation. Two days later, on the last day of January, Hemant Soren was taken into custody by the ED in Ranchi following long hours of questioning.

The politics of Jharkhand was also taking quick turns. Prior to his arrest, Hemant had quit as Jharkhand Chief Minister. But, a day ahead on January 30, he had taken the signatures of his party legislators and alliance partners on a letter of support, albeit without any name. Now as Hemant was taken into ED custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, in a swift move the JMM filled the blank in the letter of support with the name of Champai Soren. In February, Hemant was sent in judicial custody to the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi after his 13-day ED custody ended.

With Hemant behind bars, the corridors of power in Jharkhand again took some abrupt twists and turns, which eventually became the background for a script that played out in the run-up to the November Assembly elections.

Sita aur (and) Geeta

Once the Soren family, the pivotal force behind the regional outfit JMM understood that Hemant’s legal tangles could be a protracted affair, hectic parleys started. An election had to be fought later in the year and strategies needed to be laid out. And just as in many other family-driven regional political outfits in the country, the first cracks started developing within the family itself.

Hemant’s wife Kalpana, who till his incarceration was only seen as a silent shadow by her husband, suddenly came to the forefront. Grapevines were rife to the extent that she could be the JMM face in the poll campaign. It was enough for Sita Soren, Hemant’s sister-in-law. Sita is the widow of Shibu Soren’s elder son Durga and was first elected as an MLA from the Jama constituency in 2009. Soon after, she was made JMM’s national general secretary. Sita did not disappoint her father-in-law and the party and won successively in 2014 and 2019 from Jama. By 2024, a seasoned Sita Soren voiced her displeasure in the open. When asked about Kalpana being the JMM choice to replace Hemant, she asked, “Why Kalpana, who is not even an MLA and has no political experience? If they want someone from the family, I am the senior-most with over 14 years of legislative experience.” Eventually, JMM and Shibu Soren’s family cracked and Sita joined the BJP in March citing a “lack of due respect”.

It was not only the JMM that cracked. Its INDIA partner Congress also faced a jolt as its lone Lok Sabha MP in Jharkhand, Geeta Koda, quit and took up the lotus. The reason for Geeta’s joining the BJP was again, “neglect”. Like Sita Soren, Geeta also won an Assembly election for the first time in 2009 by defeating the BJP from Jagannathpur. She also won in 2014. Wife of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, Geeta won the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Singhbhum on a Congress ticket defeating the BJP.

With both Sita and Geeta quitting on the INDI bloc, JMM mandarins were under some real pressure. The saffron heat was now not only real, but present.

JMM cracks open wide

Behind the bars, Hemant Soren was a silent witness to the turn of events happening within the JMM and the INDI Bloc on the whole. He knew that Champai Soren, a seven-term MLA and one of the senior-most JMM politicians, who could match Shibu Soren in terms of charisma, was the Chief Minister. Political circles in Ranchi say, Hemant and his close quarters in JMM also knew something else. And that became evident once he was granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court in the fag end of June.

Within a week of Hemant returning to his Morabadi residence in Ranchi, Champai was given marching orders from the Chief minister’s chair. Shibu Soren’s son again staked claim to form the government and Champai resigned.

But, the sulking ‘Jharkhand Tiger’ only licked his wounds. Citing “humiliation” within the JMM, Champai resigned and joined BJP. The saffron party thought, finally it had rendered a body blow to the JMM by bagging Champai, a force to reckon with from the Kolhan region of Jharkhand. This was the same Kolhan region, where the BJP had failed to secure any seat in the 2019 Assembly polls. Desperately in need to bolster its tribal kitty, it was lining up leaders in the name of Sita Soren, Geeta Koda or Champai Soren - all potential assets for the BJP during the elections to snatch away tribal support from the JMM.

Hemant-the winner

Yet again, Hemant Soren kept watching and fixing the small gaps and micro-managing the JMM support base, minus any grandeur. While the BJP touted Hemant and Kalpana’s campaign as that of ‘Bunty aur Babli’ or when it kept on harping on the issue of infiltration and demographic change due to the alleged influx of illegal immigrants especially in the Santhal Pargana region, Hemant played his trump card. In August came his Maiya Samman Yojana, a scheme offering a monthly stipend of Rs 1,000 to economically backward women within an age group of 18 to 50 years. Over five million women were enrolled and BJP sensed the first tug in the rug under its feet. Desperate to cover the damage, it promised a Rs 2,100 stipend if voted to power. But, a wily Hemant was again a step ahead by upping his amount of Rs 2,500. Added to it came a waiver of Rs 3,500 crore in electricity dues that had a direct impact on an estimated four million households. Coupled with this was the rigorous campaign of tribal pride being at stake in the hands of ‘outsiders’ (read BJP).

When Hemant stepped out of jail, he knew the BJP-led NDA had already gained ground in Jharkhand during the Lok Sabha polls by winning nine out of 14 LS seats. The results also showed that the NDA was ahead in 50 of Jharkhand’s 81 Assembly seats. The task was somewhat daunting for Hemant, but the social sector initiatives did the trick. Women voters poured out of homes and queued outside polling booths pushing the numbers so high that they outvoted men in 68 out of 81 seats. A record 70.46 per cent of women voters cast their ballots, which was around five per cent more than men. Hemant knew he had the numbers.

When the results were declared, Maharastra did have its own surprises and complexities, but Jharkhand was Hemant Soren’s with him becoming the first person in the state’s 24 years of existence to return to power as Chief Minister. JMM’s bow and arrow had punctured a gaping hole in BJP as well as its NDA partners.

Hemant Soren, the Newsmaker

2024 had started ominously for Hemant. Little did he realise that by the close of the year, he would be standing with folded hands atop a massive podium on the Mohrabadi grounds, erected for his swearing-in ceremony, and he would be rubbing shoulders with Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Mallikarjun Kharge, Udaynidhi Stalin and others, on that dais. Hemant Soren is, in true sense, a 2024 newsmaker.