Hemant Soren, executive president of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), is all set to take over as the 11th Chief Minister term wise of the mineral rich, largely tribal State. The JMM-led alliance has posted a convincing victory in the Assembly elections .
Mr. Soren, 44, the second son of JMM patriarch and tribal leader Shibu Soren, is currently Leader of the Opposition in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly.
Born on August 10, 1975 to Shibu Soren and Roopi Soren at Nemra village in Ramgarh district, Mr Soren dropped out of a B. Tech at BITS, Mesra, to pursue politics.
He began his political journey at a young age in the shadow of his father and elder brother Durga. In 2005, he first plunged to electoral politics by contesting from Dumka, but lost to Stephen Marandi, a senior JMM leader, who had fought as an independent candidate. In 2009, he became a member of Rajya Sabha.
However, after the death of his elder brother in 2009, Mr. Hemant Soren took centre stage guiding the regional party.
Following brief stint in Rajya Sabha, Mr. Soren returned in 2010 to become Deputy Chief Minister in the Arjun Munda government — a coalition of the BJP, JMM, All Jharkhand Student Union (AJSU) and Janata Dal (United). But the government soon crumbled over the issue of rotation of chief ministers. In 2013, he became Chief Minister and led the alliance with the Congress for 18 months. In 2014, however, the alliance was swept aside by the BJP which a majority on its own, with 43 seats.
In the last five years, as an opposition leader Mr. Soren has reinvented himself. When the Raghubar Das government in 2017 brought controversial amendments to the Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act, 1908, and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy (SPT) Act, 1949, he led the opposition protests and exposed the move in public. Issues such as alleged forcible land acquisition and problem of growing unemployment have been successfully highlighted by him.
And even as a perception of Chief Minister Das being an arrogant leader grew, the JMM leader emerged as counterpoint with a people-friendly, humble image. Mr Soren has come across as a progressive leader, using social media to put forth his views on crucial issues such as mob-lynching deaths in Jharkhand, the Citizen Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens. JMM is one of the very few political parties whose district Twitter handles are also verified.
