Jharkhand’s first family hit by graft charges
RANCHI: The era of instability seems to be returning to mineralrich Jharkhand, which was carved out of Bihar on November 15, 2000. Chief minister Hemant Soren is in the midst of an officeof-profit controversy. And two more members of the Soren family, Hemant Soren’s younger brother Basant Soren and sisterin-law, Sita Soren, both law-makers in the state assembly, are also facing legal trouble.
The chief minister has been accused of awarding himself a lease to mine stone chips mines in his name, cleared by the mines and environment departments which he heads.
The charge has led to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Jharkhand high court demanding an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate. The court has issued notices to the chief minister and the state for their response.
Additionally, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has also initiated a probe on a reference from the Jharkhand governor to look into the Bharatiya Janata Party’s complaint that Soren held an “office of profit” by granting a lease to himself. The BJP has asked that
Soren be disqualified from the assembly for violating the Representation of People’s Act.
ECI officials last week said they would look at the possibility of issuing notice to Hemant Soren after examining the documents submitted by the Jharkhand government in response to the notice.
Besides the charge of granting a lease to himself, the chief minister has also been accused of allotting a 11-acre plot to his wife Kalpana Soren’s firm in an industrial park in Ranchi. The industry department is also headed by Soren.
The developments have given the opposition ammunition to target the Sorens, the most powerful political family in the tribal state.
Hemant Soren, 47, is son of the JMM president Shibu Soren, arguably the tallest leader from Jharkhand. The family is not new to controversy. Shibu Soren, popularly known as ‘Guruji’ in the state, first hit the national limelight in the early 1990s during what is now called the JMM bribery case. Four JMM MPs including Shibu Soren were accused of taking money to support the PV Narsimha Rao-led minority Congress government in 1993. They escaped judicial scrutiny on the premise of parliamentary privilege.
In what came as a more serious blow, in December 2006, a trial court in Delhi convicted and sentenced Shibu Soren to life imprisonment for his involvement in the 1994 abduction and murder of his private secretary Shashi Nath Jha. Soren was union coal minister then and had to step down following the conviction. The JMM patriarch was however acquitted in the case by the High Court in 2013, an acquittal which was also upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.
His legislator daughter-in-law Sita Soren is facing trial before a special CBI court in connection with an alleged horse-trading case related to Rajya Sabha elections in 2012. The trial is still pending.
Basant Soren courted controversy even before he became a legespecially islator in 2020 from Dumka. His firm, Grand Mining as accused of illegal mining in Pakur district. His association with that firm has now been converted into a complaint by the BJP before the Governor.
“The fresh set of allegations against the CM is baseless as the mine lease is a very old issue which was duly declared by the CM in his election affidavits and income tax returns. As far as the allegations against our leader Shibu Soren are concerned... in the bribery case, the way it is presented shows the inherent feudal mindset of our society. There were parliamentarians from other parties as well. But why is it that the case is still remembered as ‘JMM bribery case’. Why? Just because we are a party of tribals? ,” asked Supriyo Bhattacharya, principal general secretary and spokesperson of the JMM.
On the face of it, JMM leaders and the party’s partners Congress and the RJD have thrown their weight behind Hemant Soren. Leaders of the three parties met the governor last week and said the BJP was behind the witch hunt. However, there is an eerie silence among treasury bench legislators about the possible impact of the direct allegations.
A JMM legislator said on condition of anonymity that the next few weeks are likely to be full of uncertainty. “With the massive electoral win in 2019, Hemant Soren established himself as the political heir to Guruji. However, these allegations have the potential to make a major dent.”
He may be overstating the case. The Sorens have managed to weather controversies before in the state where scheduled tribes account for over a fourth of the 33 million population (2011).
Sudhir Pal, a political analyst associated with several think tanks, said the reason for this is the personal appeal of “Guruji”, his ability to play the “victim card” and the fractured nature of the state polity.