Jharkhand's 'Tribal God' Shibu Soren Dies in Delhi Hospital

The tribal God of Jharkhand,Shibu Soren ,three times chief minister of the state,former union minister and Rajya Sabha member ,Shibu Soren died in a Delhi hospital on Monday morning.

Shibu Soren is considered as architect of Jharkhand was described as Nelson Mandela of Jharkhand by his son,chief minister Hemant Soren.Like Mandela,he too remained in jail for years in his fight against money lenders and liquor traders

Shibu Soren had his first political schooling at Pokhariya ,a remote village in the jungles on Dhanbad-Giridih road under Tundi block, 40 kms from Dhanbad,.As the news of Soren getting majority support in the UPA reached the village,the tribals,mostly Santhalis started celebrations with their traditional customs, dance and drum beats.

Soren who used to pass" orders" against landlords,money lenders and against illicit liquor traders from Pokhariya Ashram more between 1970-77 ,now he may be issuing bigger orders from Ranchi . Led by Debu Mahto,students wing leader of JMM ,his supporters visited the tomb of Hazrat Syed Shah Ali and offered prayers for success of Soren in assembly elections .

Soren whose name once used to work as terror among the money lenders, land sharks and land grabbers of tribals and illicit liquor traders had his initial schooling in politics from the then deputy commissioner of Dhanbad K B Saxena who is still remembered as a dry honest civil servant. Saxena, was impressed with the young tribal youth from Nemra(Gola) in Hazaribagh district who had launched a movement for social reforms among the tribals and restoration of their rights on land .

Saxena influenced Soren to give up his "underground" activities from his base in Palma village,a few kms from Pokhariya and join the mainstream society. The then chief minister of undivided Bihar, Jagannath Mishra,too was impressed with the works of Soren and the then DC had organized a public meeting in the tribal area of Tundi to facilitate a meeting between Soren and the chief minister. For his reforms in the field of agriculture by promoting community farming among the tribals, Soren was awarded with a tractor by the then prime minister,Ms Indira Gandhi.

Soren remained underground here for over seven years and during that period he confronted the administration on several occasions as he launched an aggressive campaign against the money lenders, traders and grabbers of tribals land. He used to hold his own "Jan Adalat" at Pokhariya Ashram, where even the tribals were punished. If a tribal was found drunk in the village, he was whipped 20 times publicly.

The campaign for tribals rights earned Soren the nick name of Dishum Guru(tribal country's leader). Non-tribals also started grouping themselves against Soren and this resulted in exchange of bullets and arrows. His supporters had allegedly grabbed the land of Lalu Chaudhury near Durgadih Ashram which resulted in violent retaliation. At Topchanchi, one police sub-inspector was killed as the members of the Dishum Guru's procession attacked him.

Even during his "underground'' days, Soren was available only for the sub-inspector of Tundi police station ,who in turn facilitated dialogues between the deputy commissioner and Soren who was then leading the Jharkhand Liberation Front. To make the tribals literate,Soren opened several night schools for the tribals, where the educated tribals taught them. He settled several land disputes in his parallel court here and launched a strong temperance movement and told tribals liquor consumption harmed them economically too. There was total prohibition in Tundi during his "rule", but now the situation has changed and roadside bars are doing brisk business.

His mentor,Binod Bihari Mahto ,the founder of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and A K Roy,the then Marxist leader of Dhanbad asked Soren to contest the assembly elections in 1977 as he had become "popular", but Soren faced defeat as he lost to Satyanarayan Dudhani of the then Jana Sangh. Soren then shifted his activities to Dumka,headquarters of Santhal Parganas..

The ashram is being looked after by wife and children of his friend of underground days,late Shyamlal Murmu.Guruji had visited ashram last year ,when Murmu;s octogenarian mother had died, recalled Phoolchand, his son.The ashram is heavily fortified now with two police pickets ,one at the road opposite the ashram and another at Maniadih school guarding it. Murmu was gunned down by the Naxalites here

Son of Shyamlal Murmu recalled, Soren was like God for the tribals,who came to him to seek relief from the atrocities of the landlords and money lenders. Before he started his campaign here, the landlords and moneylenders used to lift the harvested crops of the tribals directly from the farms to their "palaces". It was levy by the landlords and moneylenders for the petty loans given to the tribals.

When Soren started holding his "court" at Pokhariya in 1972 and appointed the local tribal leaders as judges, things improved. There was instant justice and orders were executed without any protest.

There is a big field called Judikinahar, which was once owned by two tribal sisters. The local jamindar had captured the land. Soren saw the papers of settlements and ordered immediate eviction of the landlords, one of them was then a senior civil servant.The land was freed and distributed among the tribals, claimed Sardar Murmu,a former JMM MLA and friend of Soren. Since then, popularity graph of Soren jumped fast and he used to attract even crowds of one lakh people at his ashram. If there was any encroachment on the forest land by the landlords, he got these forest land too freed from the encroachers.

The terror of the forest staff on the tribals ended due to his presence and he strictly ordered the paddy of the tribals would not be allowed to be lifted from their farms and taken to the "mahals" of the landlords.

But Now, Soren's bows and arrows flags (of JMM) have been overshadowed by the flags of the Marxists and slogans of Maoists which are pasted all over Tundi.