Shibu Soren, JMM founder and former Jharkhand CM, passes away at 81

Veteran Jharkhand leader Shibu Soren, JMM founder and three-time Chief Minister, died at 81 in Delhi after a prolonged illness. A key figure in the Jharkhand statehood movement, he was popularly known as Guruji and served in Parliament multiple times.

New Delhi: Shibu Soren, former Jharkhand Chief Minister and founding patron of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), has passed away, his son, CM Hemant Soren, announced on Monday.

“Respected Guru Dishom has left us all. Today, I have become empty…” wrote Hemant Soren on his X handle in Hindi. Shibu Soren died at a Delhi hospital at the age of 81 after a prolonged illness. The Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, where he was admitted, declared him dead at 8.56 a.m. on Monday.

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The hospital, in its statement, said, “He died after a prolonged illness. He was suffering from a kidney ailment and had also suffered a stroke, a month and a half ago. He was on the life support system for the last month.”

He had been admitted to the Sri Ganga Ram Hospital in the national Capital for over a month due to a kidney-related issue. He was under the treatment of Dr A.K. Bhalla, Chairman, Nephrology and a team from Neurology and ICU at the hospital.

Popularly addressed as “Guruji” or “Dishom Guru” in his home state, Soren served thrice as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand in 2005, 2008-2009, and 2009-2010. His tenures were, however, often short due to political challenges. He was born on January 11, 1944, in Nemra village, then part of Bihar (now in Jharkhand).

Shubu Soren belonged to the Santal (Santhal) tribal group. Shibu Soren formed the Santhal Navyuvak Sangh, an organisation focused on tribal liberation and land rights, when he was 18 years old. In 1972, he cofounded the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha with A.K. Roy and Binod Bihari Mahato, advocating for a separate Jharkhand state and tribal upliftment, and later became the General Secretary of the JMM.

He played a pivotal role in the separate State movement, contributing to the eventual formation of Jharkhand in 2000. Over a four-decade career in politics, Soren was elected to the Lok Sabha eight times and served as a Rajya Sabha member for two terms, the second ongoing.