Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 18: On the eve of the state Assembly elections expected in a couple of months, the former Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren seems to be all set to part company with the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).
What was considered to be a mutual internal arrangement for Mr Hemant Soren to take back the mantle of the state from Mr Champai Soren on his release from jail on bail, has turned out to be a “devastating experience” for the deposed chief minister.
The 67-year old Champai Soren was elected the chief minister on February 2 after Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on January 31, but had to step down from the post on July 3 to make way for the return of Hemant Soren.
Amidst buzz that he was likely to join the BJP, Mr Soren said he was considering several options but did not reject the suggestion to join the BJP. Amidst the buzz, Mr Champai Soren landed in Delhi on Sunday which he claimed was his “personal visit.”
In a post on X, Champai Soren on Sunday expressed his pain over the way he was treated by his own party and said “he was devastated as his self-respect was harmed” when he was asked to resign from his post after Chief Minister Hemant Soren was released on bail.
Soren also claimed that he was surprised to find that the party leadership cancelled events that he was supposed to attend after Hul Diwas, a festival held in Jharkhand to celebrate the martyr Sido Kanhu, who led the Santhal rebellion.
“I was broken from within. I could not understand what to do. For two days, I sat quietly and introspected, kept searching for my mistake in the whole incident. I did not have the greed for power even a bit, but to whom could I show this blow to my self-respect? Where could I express the pain inflicted by my own people?” Champai Soren said in his social media post, published in Hindi.
Soren told reporters in Delhi that he hasn’t met any BJP leader and he was in the national capital on a “personal” visit but later said in his tweet that his options are now open. “Till the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections, all options are open for me in this journey,” he said. Reports, however, said, he had met Bengal’s Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and a few other BJP leaders.
He outlined three options for himself that he arrived at after much “soul searching.” “With a heavy heart, I said in the same meeting of the legislative party that a new chapter has begun in his life. “A new chapter of my life is going to start from today. I had three options. First, to retire from politics, second, to form my own separate organisation and third, if I find a companion on this path, then to travel further with that companion,” he said.
Soren said he looked for an alternative path because of ‘insulting behaviour’ from his own people and said he was holding back his tears. “Due to the insulting behaviour I was facing for the last three days that I was trying to control my tears I felt as if I had no existence in that party, no existence at all, for which I had dedicated my entire life,” he said.
Without naming anyone, he said “they were only interested in the chair.” “In the meantime, many such insulting incidents happened, which I do not want to mention right now,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Hemant Soren on Sunday accused the saffron camp of “poaching” MLAs and “dividing society.” Mr Hemant Soren’s statement came hours after Mr Champai Soren reached Delhi.
Addressing a government function in Godda district, Mr Hemant Soren alleged that the BJP brought people from Gujarat, Assam and Maharashtra to “spread poison among the tribals, Dalits, backward classes and minorities and make them fight with each other.” “Forget about society, these people work to break families and parties. They poach MLAs. Money is such a thing that it doesn’t take long for politicians to move here and there,” he said.
Mr Hemant Soren also said that the Assembly elections in Jharkhand are due this year but the poll schedule would be “decided by the opposition party in the state, not by the Election Commission.” “It seems the Election Commission is no longer a constitutional institution, as it has been occupied by BJP people,” he alleged. “I challenge them (BJP) that if the assembly elections are held today, they will be wiped out from Jharkhand tomorrow,” the Chief Minister said.
