My confidence comes from my adivasi DNA

A heat wave is sweeping across the rocky terrain of Giridih, situated in the North Chotanagpur region of Jharkhand. The mango trees outside the guest house where Kalpana Soren is staying are laden with unripe fruit, their branches swaying and swooshing, and some small mangoes fall to the ground, wrested by the winds.

- SONI MISHRA

INTERVIEW

KALPANA SOREN JMM LEADER

Undeterred by the heat, Kalpana is set to leave for campaigning in Gandey assembly seat, a predominantly rural constituency in Giridih district. As she steps out of her room, party workers rush to meet her. Dressed in a pastel pink sari, she is understated in her style, but warm and cheerful in her demeanour. She greets party workers with folded hands, listens to them patiently, passes on their concerns to her aides for redress, and seeks their support in the election campaign.

Kalpana sat down for her first ever interview on April 30, a day after filing her nomination papers. She speaks about the day her husband, former chief minister Hemant Soren, was arrested, her entry into politics, her husband’s pep talk from behind the bars and the upcoming challenges. She says she will continue to be in politics. Edited excerpts from the interview:

Q/ Did you ever think that you will make a political speech or fight an election someday?

A/ Not really. I was living in a political atmosphere—my husband and my father-in-law are there, my whole family is in it. But I was busy taking care of the family, my kids, my husband. Because my husband was very busy, I thought one person should be at the forefront in the political arena, and one person should look after the family because both my in-laws are getting old.

Q/ Did Hemant Soren’s arrest come as a shock or were you mentally prepared?