Defying age, Shibu Soren addressed 47 rallies this election
RANCHI: Shibu Soren, former Union minister and JMM president, campaigned extensively in the assembly election and BJP “propaganda” that points towards his physical capacity and diminishing charisma of the “ageing leader”.
Guruji, as people call him, did not campaign in the first phase, wherein 13 seats of the Palamu region went to polls on November 30 where the JMM contested only four seats. The septuagenarian leader came out in the middle from the second phase in which 20 seats of Kolhan region and parts of South Chhota Nagpur was gearing up for polls.
In all, he addressed 47 rallies spread over 81 assembly segments besides village meetings and door-to-door campaigns.
The JMM motive in Kolhan was to score over BJP and Shibu signalled his availability for the party nominees. The JMM contested 15 seats in the second phase and Shibu held 11 election rallies.
In the third phase, Shibu addressed eight election meetings. Between the fourth and fifth phase wherein 31 seats were up for polls, he frequented between North Chhota Nagpur and Santhal Parganas. “Every day, we used to attend three to four rallies,” said JMM general secretary Vinod pandey who used to accompany Shibu in his campaign trails.
Earlier in the general election too, Shibu attended meetings and rallies and also campaigned for his daughter Anjali Soren who contested from Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat in Odisha and for Rajmahal candidate Vijay Hansdak in Sundarpahari.
“Age factor was visible in the firebrand leader but the fire in him continues,” said the rank and file in JMM.
“Dumka bar council member and his old associate Bijay Kumar Singh said Guruji was hail and hearty during campaigns while admitting that age cannot be concealed. I attended a few rallies with him and he didn’t look shaky,” he said.
Singh also maintained that Shibu reminded people that the purpose of Jharkhand was yet to be achieved and asked them to give their children proper education and protect the green cover. Guruji also lambasted the Raghubar Das government for selling liquor for which he spearheaded movement during his heydays in Palma (Giridih-Dhanbad border) in the seventies and eighties and appealed to the people to uproot the BJP government that pushed Jharkhand to trench, said Singh.
Ranchi University political science teacher KL Kundan said Shibu’s age factor is visible. He however, said his presence is sufficient in Santhal Pargana region besides the sympathy factor for his struggle for Jharkhand.