Stepping out of his father's shadow
New Delhi: The victory of the Hemant Soren led Opposition coalition is a shot in the arm for the dwindling political fortunes of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in the state, where the party had got only 19 seats in the 2014 Assembly elections. It now puts the spotlight back on the 44-year-old Soren, who won both of the seat he contested on.
Soren, who was instrumental in stitching the alliance, defeated Jharkhand Welfare Minister Lois Marandi in Dumka seat, securing 80,589 votes against his BJP rival's 67,571 votes. Soren also retained the Barhait assembly seat, defeating BJP candidate Simon Malto by over 25,000 votes. Son of former Union minister and tribal leader Shibu Soren, Hemant, a Santhal, was the chief ministerial face of the coalition and is now set to become the next chief minister of the tribal-dominated state again. As a fledgling politician, Hemant made his political debut in 2005 when he contested from Dumka, however, he lost the seat to party rival at the time.
Initially, not a natural choice of father Soren to inherit his political legacy and mantle, he was propelled into the senior leadership of JMM in 2009, after the sudden demise of his elder brother Durga Soren. Hemant was drafted into serious politics in 2009 with a brief stint as Rajya Sabha MP from June 2009 to March 2010 and became the youngest chief minister in 2013 and served until December 2014.
After a crushing Lok Sabha defeat, it was an indomitable task for Hemant to revive the fortunes of his party. However, not to be deterred, Soren carried out around 165 rallies across Jarkhand in over 28 days. He covered each constituency at least twice. He also held umpteen backchannel meetings with multiple civil society groups, government employees' associations and activists, which now is a known secret.
During the election campaigning, Hemant led various protests against the intended amendments to the pro-tribal tenancy laws, he also extended support to around 70,000 temporary teachers for regularisation, and had severely criticised the Raghubar Das-led state government for taking over retail liquor sales. He had also opposed the merger of government schools.
Furthermore, all along the election campaign under the leadership of Hemant, the JMM stuck to elevating local issues like lack of employment, scarcity of water and the protection of 'Jal, Jungle and Zameen' of the state. Hemant has always tried to project himself as a leader of all the sections of the state.
