‘BJP doesn’t want to talk about real issues, we do’
HEMANTSOREN, JMM working president
Leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Hemant Soren spoke to Hindustan Times on a range of issues Edited excerpts
If you had to credit one thing for this win, what would that be?
The first time since Jharkhand was formed, the people have voted and given such a clear mandate It is a major thing for this state and I am aware of the responsibility that the people have bestowed on me I want to reassure them that as a son of this land, I will work to deliver on all my promises
I will work not just as the chief minister but as the son of Jharkhand
What do you think it is because of ? The promises you made or because of the anger with chief minister Raghubar Das?
It is the mandate of the people A big cause of the win is the efforts of Guruji [his father Shibu Soren], the sacrifices he made right from his childhood that led to the creation of the state Today, that team has been given the responsibility of running the state
You mentioned your father This election marks the moment that you have finally taken over
It is true that I have been in the lead role All alliance partners trusted me and have given me such a blessing and so I succeeded
The alliance worked well because they left it to you to take the decisions Is that the key for making alliances work?
It depends on the alliance team how they work out We had decided during the Lok Sabha polls that we would fight the Lok Sabha polls under the Congress and the assembly polls under the JMM, under my leadership As time passed, we worked on that
Of course I have been working on it through my rallies because I could feel the anger of the people I tried to find out what they wanted and people conveyed they
wanted to work with me
You had a whole range of issues covered, but at the moment the CAA and the NRC are the big ones Was that a factor at all in the elections?
The CAA and the NRC did appear after the second phase of elections I feel that there is such a big controversy over this, some people have died too, I don’t think it is going down well In Jharkhand, because the code of conduct was in place, I don’t think it made much of an impact But now after the polls, it will become important, so we will deal with that
What about Ayodhya and Article 370? What was its impact?
The situation is that you are seeking votes on Ayodhya, you are seeking a vote on the Patel statue issue, you are seeking votes on all that, but you don’t want to talk about any thing that matters to people It was a state election, local issues were important People die of hunger, you don’t talk about it There is inflation here, you don’t talk about it, there is no jobs for the youth, farmers are committing suicide- will Ram Temple formation stop them from committing suicide? Today, they are just pushing their own agenda But they didn’t succeed because we were prepared We did our homework on what they would do and how to counter with what the poor wanted
They only work on castewhether it is Ram Mandir, NRC [National Register of Citizens], made Assamese fight with Bengalis, made Dalits fight with Maha Dalitsand Hindu- Muslim is their core formula They link everything to caste and I think people are becoming wary of this They are not getting a majority anywhere and they are cobbling up numbers to form government
You spoke about caste Is Raghubar’s caste ( that he was a non-tribal CM) become an issue?
Yes, it became one of the factors of this election His work pattern and way of working were also factors
What is the role you are going to take with the Centre? Do we see an immediate confrontation on CAA-NRC?
We haven’t got the notification When we get the order, we will see how many people we will have to kill to implement this, how many families will be ruined, how many children will be orphaned, how many women will be widowed, then we will decide whether to implement
Reports say the Congress has demanded the deputy CM’S post Have you agreed?
There is no such word on this Some seats are still being counted so there is no discussion on this yet