BY PRASANTA KUMAR DASH
Bhubaneswar, Aug 4: The history of tribal kingdoms in ancient India reveals a complex tapestry of political formations, interactions, and transformations.These kingdoms played a significant role in shaping the social, cultural, and political landscape of ancient India that continued as a legacy also in the era of post-independence.
In course of time, the ancient India saw the rise of numerous tribal kingdoms and confederations, with towering & powerful rulers and dynasties emerging from various tribal groups. Some notable examples include the Gonds, Bheels, and Santhals. These tribes, often inhabiting hilly or forested regions, established their own independent kingdoms or joined larger empires.
The Santhal tribe, primarily dominant in eastern India, formed their own social structures and political entities, as one of the powerful tribal rulers, for their love for the nature, land and province, even after post-independence.
Shibu Soren, an oborginal tribal boy from the Santhal community who hailed from the ancient Bihar province was such a 'Dalpati' to fight series of solo battles for the wellbeing, existence and sustainability of his tribes and the dear land.Though he was not a descendant of a Kingly family or princely dynasty,he however in his yonghood proved himself an indomitable tribal leader of his estates, fighting direct battles whether in the front or concealing himself behind the society, for the betterment of his own tribes, land and nature.
Shibu Soren, the great valiant tribal hero is no more as he passed away at 81 in a Delhi-based hospital this morning, handing down his historic legacies, his hand-crafted Jharkhand, the independent state, he owned after a long-run battle and social movements for decades, facing many a odds, for his own, to his statesmen and kith & kin.
With the end of era today with the earthly body of the great leader consigned to the pyre, the people’s movement what he triggered, JMM upliftment that he configured, fighting back to social evils and monarchic authorities, have also dispersed in air. However, his school of thoughts, commitments for the land and its people, his political fronts and empathy for his own kind, is an unperishable episode for the politicians, social characters and nationalists as a whole for all times to come.
How a mere Santhali boy Shivcharan turned to be Shibu Soren in a normal social life. How he later became the DISHOM GURU (Guruji of the land/Country). How the stunted tribal boy did away with moneylending only with his oneman army. How he played guerrilla warfare and tribal tricks to deal with the Tribal Treachery, prevalent then and resorted to ‘Dhan Katni’ i.e forceful harvesting of crops overpowered by fistful and tyrant landlords & inhumane moneylenders.Ultimately, how Sibu Soren achieved his ultimate goal that is ‘Swatantra Jharkhand’ entity for his long-fought socio-political movement, are now the episodes for social studies.
Shibu Soren was born on 11 January 1944 in Nemra village of Ramgarh district, in what was, at the time, Bihar state, India. He completed his schooling in the same district. During his schooling his father was murdered by goons hired by moneylenders, for his sheer voice against the land grabbing tendencies and utmost tyranny of the traditional landlords.
At the age of 18, Shivcharan formed the Santhal Navyuvak Sangh to organize Santhali community against their explotation. In 1972, Bengali Maxist trade union leader A K Roy, Kurmi-Mahato leader Binod Bihari Mahato and Santal leader Shibu Soren formed Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and inducted soren to incline towards the ideologies.
Later, Soren became the general secretary of JMM. JMM organised agitations to reclaim the tribal lands which were alienated. They started forcibly harvesting in the lands. Shibu Soren was known for delivering summary justice against landlords and money lenders, sometimes by holding own parallel courts.
On 23 January 1975, he founded a campaign to drive away "outsiders", or the 'non-tribal' people, for their red-eyes on the natives.Following this in a subsequent confronation at least eleven people were killed. Soren and numerous others were charged with various crimes related to this incident. After extended legal proceedings, Soren was acquitted on 6 March 2008. However, possibly related incitement charges dating from two earlier deaths in 1974 that remain pending, Soren had to play hide and seek with the cop.
He later became the President of the JMM and strengthened his social movement in a more organized way.
On 28 November 2006, Soren was found guilty in a twelve-year-old case involving the kidnapping and murder of his former personal secretary Shashinath Jha. It was claimed that Jha was abducted from the Dhaula Kuan area in Delhi on 22 May 1994 and taken to Piska Nagari near Ranchi where he was killed. The CBI chargesheet stated that Jha's knowledge of the reported deal between the Congress and the JMM to save the Narasimha Rao government during the July 1993 no-confidence motion and an act of sodomy was the motive behind the murder. The charge-sheet asserted that: "Jha was aware of the illegal transactions and also expected and demanded a substantial share out of this amount from Soren.
Soren resigned from his post of Union Minister for Coal after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanded that he should do so in the wake of the verdict.This is the first case of a Union Minister of the Government of India being found guilty of involvement in a murder. On 5 December 2006, Shibu Soren was sentenced to life imprisonment. A Delhi court rejected his bail plea, stating: 'We cannot overlook the fact that the appellant (Soren) has been convicted after a detailed and elaborate trial only in November 2006 and sentenced in December 2006.
The bench also noted that he was also being tried in a number of other cases, including the case of mass murder in Jharkhand.
On 25 June 2007, Shibu Soren was being escorted to his jail in Dumka, Jharkhand when his convoy was attacked by bombs, but no one was hurt.
The Delhi High Court on 23 August 2007 overruled the District Court and acquitted Soren, from all legal complications.
On the other hand, the five men convicted by the Tis Hazari court were held guilty of criminal conspiracy, abduction and murder, in connection with the high profile case.
With the elevation of the JMM as a popular and tribal-welfare political front, Soren was sworn in as a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Dumka from 1980 to 1984, 1989 to 1998, and 2002 to 2019. He also served as the Minister for Coal in the Union Cabinet three times that is- in 2004, from 2004 to 2005, and in 2006. However, he was convicted by a Delhi district court of his involvement in the 1994 murder of his private secretary, Shashi Nath Jha.
Thus, he lost his first Lok Sabha election in 1977. He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980 from Dumka. Meanwhile, An arrest warrant was issued against him. He was subsequently elected to the Lok Sabha in 1989, 1991 and 1996 as well. In 2002, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha. He won the Dumka Lok Sabha seat in a by-election the same year and resigned his Rajya Sabha seat. He was re-elected in 2004 also.
Soren was then inducted as the Union Coal Minister in the Manmohan Singh government. However, he was asked to resign following an arrest warrant in his name in the thirty-year-old Chirudih case. He was one of the main accused amongst the 69 accused, with allegations to kill 10 people, mostly Muslims on 23 January 1975, in a clash between tribals and Muslims during his anti-outsider movement.
After the warrant was issued, he initially went underground however he resigned on 24 July 2004, for political outrage. Securing bail after spending over a month in judicial custody he was released on 8 September and re-inducted into the Union Cabinet and given back the coal ministry on 27 November 2004.
On 2 March 2005, he was invited to form the government in Jharkhand by the Governor of Jharkhand. He resigned as Chief Minister nine days later, on 11 March, following his failure to obtain a vote of confidence in the assembly.
From 1980 to the year 2000, Soren led the Jharkhand statehood movement from the front. He worked with leaders like Atal Behari Vajpayee, LK Advani, Lalu Prasad, and many others to achieve his goal — the statehood for Jharkhand.
The tribal people of India will remember Soren for his grit, determination and struggle for political self-determination, while for the people of Jharkhand, he will always be an all-time icon as a leader of the soil, created ‘from the tribal, and for the tribal.’
