Shibu Soren and the soil-soaked struggle for self-rule

SHIBU Soren was an avatar to the Santhals of the Chhotanagpur plateau of the undivided Bihar.

- V V P SHARMA @ New Delhi

They called him Dishom Guru — the god of all 10 directions. In his younger days, his black locks, flowing beard and chiselled features mesmerised the tribals as much as they frustrated the Bihar Police, as he led a movement for tribal rights that saw a separate tribal state of Jharkhand carved from Bihar in his lifetime.

At 81, Soren breathed his last in Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in the national capital from kidney complications on Monday. Called Guruji by now, he became chief minister thrice, never able to complete a full term as politics or police cases disrupted his reign.

He even went to Delhi as minister at the Centre, but as the years dragged on, and the health taking its toll, he hung up his boots and, succumbing to dynasty politics, handed over control of the party he co-founded, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), to his son, Hemant. The younger Soren is the current chief minister of a coalition with the Congress.