Hemant Soren | |
|---|---|
 Soren in 2024 | |
| 5th Chief Minister of Jharkhand | |
| Assumed office 4 July 2024 | |
| Governor | C. P. Radhakrishnan Santosh Gangwar |
| Cabinet | |
| Preceded by | Champai Soren |
| In office 29 December 2019 – 2 February 2024 | |
| Governor | Droupadi Murmu Ramesh Bais |
| Cabinet | Hemant II |
| Preceded by | Raghubar Das |
| Succeeded by | Champai Soren |
| In office 13 July 2013 – 28 December 2014 | |
| Governor | Syed Ahmed |
| Cabinet | Hemant I |
| Preceded by | Arjun Munda |
| Succeeded by | Raghubar Das |
| Leader of the Opposition in Jharkhand Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 7 January 2015 – 28 December 2019 | |
| Chief Minister | Raghubar Das |
| Preceded by | Arjun Munda |
| Succeeded by | Babulal Marandi |
| Deputy Chief Minister of Jharkhand | |
| In office 11 September 2010 – 18 January 2013 Serving with Sudesh Mahto | |
| Chief Minister | Arjun Munda |
| Preceded by | President's rule |
| Succeeded by | President's rule |
| Member ofJharkhand Legislative Assembly | |
| Assumed office 23 December 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Hemlal Murmu |
| Constituency | Barhait |
| In office 23 December 2019 – 6 January 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Louis Marandi |
| Succeeded by | Basant Soren |
| Constituency | Dumka |
| In office 23 December 2009 – 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Stephen Marandi |
| Succeeded by | Louis Marandi |
| Constituency | Dumka |
| Member of Parliament,Rajya Sabha | |
| In office 24 June 2009 – 4 January 2010 | |
| Constituency | Jharkhand |
| President ofJharkhand Mukti Morcha | |
| Assumed office 15 April 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Shibu Soren |
| Working President ofJharkhand Mukti Morcha | |
| Assumed office 15 April 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Hemant Soren (1975-08-10)August 10, 1975 (age 50) |
| Party | Jharkhand Mukti Morcha |
| Spouse | |
| Relations | Durga Soren (elder brother) Sita Soren (sister-in-law) Basant Soren (younger brother) |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents |
|
| Residence |
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| Alma mater | Birla Institute of Technology Mesra (drop-out) |
| Occupation | Politician |
Hemant Soren (born 10 August 1975) is an Indian politician who is serving as the 5th and currentChief Minister of Jharkhand since 4 July 2024 and the Leader of the House in Legislative Assembly. He previously held the office from 2019 to 2024 and from 2013 to 2014.[1][2][3] He is also the president of theJharkhand Mukti Morcha, a regional party.[4] Soren has represented theBarhait constituency in theJharkhand Legislative Assembly since 2014 and previously representedDumka twice — from 2019 to 2020 and from 2009 to 2014. He also served as theDeputy Chief Minister of Jharkhand from 2010 to 2013,Leader of the Opposition in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly from 2014 to 2019, and a member of theRajya Sabha fromJharkhand from 2009 to 2010.
Notably, Soren was arrested by theEnforcement Directorate on 31 January 2024 in connection with a land scam case.[5] He contends that the arrest was an act of political vendetta by thecentral government, a stance shared by opposition parties. He secured bail and was released from jail on 28 June 2024.[6]
Soren was born in Nemara inRamgarh district,Bihar (now inJharkhand) to Roopi andShibu Soren, former Chief Minister of Jharkhand and founder-president ofJharkhand Mukti Morcha. Hemant has two brothers and a sister. He is the third child of his parents. Among his siblings, the eldest was[7]Durga Soren, the second eldest is his sister Anjali Soren, then himself. He is followed by his youngest brotherBasant Soren, who is also a MLA from Dumka constituency in Jharkhand. His educational qualification is Intermediate from Patna High School,Patna,Bihar.[8] As per affidavit filed before Election Commission, Hemant enrolled inBIT Mesra, Ranchi inMechanical Engineering, but dropped out.[9]
He was a member of Rajya Sabha from 24 June 2009 to 4 January 2010.[10] He started his political career asMember of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) on 23 December 2009. Later on, he became Jharkhand deputy CM on 11 September 2010 till 8 January 2013.[11]
He was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand on 15 July 2013 with support fromCongress andRJD afterPresident's rule was removed from the state. He was again elected as theChief Minister of Jharkhand in December 2019, and sworn in on 29 December.[12] On 28 November 2024, he again took oath for fourth time as 14th Chief Minister of Jharkhand.[13][14][15]
In 2016, the BJP government in Jharkhand tried amending theChhota Nagpur Tenancy Act and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act which would allow owners and tenants of Adivasi land to use it for non-agricultural purposes and the other would allow transfer ofAdivasi land for building roads, canals, educational institutions, hospitals, and other "government purposes". This led to huge protests in the state and Hemant had strongly protested against these amendments.[16]
CMRaghubar Das had invited Hemant to theGlobal Investors Summit in 2017, but Hemant called the summit a "maha chintan shivir of land grabbers" and claimed that it is being organised to loot the land of Adivasis, Moolvasis and the farmers of the state.[17]
TheRaghubar Das ministry was seeking amendments to theChhotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908, and theSanthal Pargana Tenancy Act, 1949. These two original laws had safeguarded the rights of the tribal communities on their land. According to the existing laws the land transactions could only be done between the tribals. The new amendments gave the tribals the right to allow the government to make commercial use of the tribal land and to take the tribal land on lease. The proposed bill amending the existing law had been approved by theJharkhand Legislative Assembly. The bills were sent toDroupadi Murmu (thenGovernor of Jharkhand) for approval in November 2016.[18][19]
The tribal people had strongly objected to the proposed law. During the Pathalgardi rebellion, protests were held against the proposed amendments to the tenancy acts.[20] In one incident the protests turned violent and the tribals abducted the security detail of BJP MP Karia Munda. Police responded with a violent crackdown on the tribals, that caused the death of a tribal man. Criminal cases were filed against more than 200 people including the tribal rights activist FatherStan Swamy. Murmu, was criticized for her soft stand on police aggression against tribals during the movement. Being a tribal herself, Murmu was expected to speak up to the government in support of the tribals but it did not happen, and instead she appealed to the Pathalgarhi agitation leaders to repose faith in the constitution.[18]
Governor Murmu had received total of 192 memorandums against the amendments in the bill.[18] Then opposition leader Hemant Soren had said that the BJP government wanted to acquire tribal land through the two amendment Bills for the benefit of corporates. Opposition parties Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Congress, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha and others had put intense pressure against the bill.[20] On 24 May 2017, Murmu relented and refused to give assent to the bills and returned the bill to the state government along with the memorandums she had received. The bill was later withdrawn in August 2017.[18]
In October 2017, Soren had demanded a CBI inquiry into the death of 11-year-old girl Santoshi Kumari who allegedly died of starvation in Simdega as the family was not given ration since July for not havingAadhaar number seeded to their bank account. Soren also demanded action against Chief Secretary Rajbala Verma, who, he said, had passed an order through video conferencing to remove the names of the families having not linked their Ration Cards with their Aadhaar number.[21]
He has been a vocal protester of theDirect Benefit Transfer in PDS and recently, voiced his concerns on how the scheme has caused tremendous suffering and injustice.[22] In April 2018, a JMM delegation led by Hemant Soren and his father Shibu Soren met the Hon'ble PresidentRam Nath Kovind registering a strong protest on the dilution of the SC/ST by the Supreme Court and proposed amendments to the LARR Bill by the Jharkhand government.[23]
In March 2018, Hemant Soren met then Telangana Chief MinisterK. Chandrasekhar Rao regarding a possible non-Congress and non-BJP front should be formed in the country.[24] However, he also attended a dinner hosted by UPA Chaiperson Sonia Gandhi where the agenda was to discuss a broader front against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead of the 2019 general elections.[25]
He supports the call for banning liquor in Jharkhand on the footsteps of Bihar.[26] In response to the entry of liquor retail outlets in the state, he said "Now government will open liquor outlets in villages, which will ultimately impact the lives of poor tribals in Jharkhand. I appeal to the rural residents of the state to not allow liquor outlets in their villages." He added women's organizations would have to come forward to launch a struggle against government's liquor campaign.[27]
On 29 December 2019, following the victory of the JMM, INC, RJD coalition in2019 Jharkhand Legislative Assembly election, Hemant Soren was sworn in as Chief Minister of Jharkhand alongside former Speaker of the Jharkhand assembly Congress leadersAlamgir Alam andRameshwar Oraon, and lone RJD legislator Satyanand Bhokta.[28]The Election Commission has sent its opinion to Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais on a plea seeking that Chief Minister Hemant Soren be disqualified as an MLA for violating electoral law by extending a mining lease to himself.[29]
On 31 January 2024, he was arrested by theEnforcement Directorate following allegations of a land scam. He handed over his resignation letter to thegovernor of Jharkhand,C. P. Radhakrishnan.[30] He secured bail and was released from jail on 28 June 2024.[6]Champai Soren resigned as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand on 3 July 2024 and Hemant Soran put forward the claim for forming government toJharkhand GovernorC. P. Radhakrishnan.[31] He sworn-in as Chief Minister of Jharkhand on 4 July 2024.[32]
After2024 Jharkhand Assembly Elections the JMM-led alliance won 56 seats where Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren was unanimously elected as leader of the legislature party and he took oath as Chief Minister on 28 November 2024.[33][34]
Soren was awardedChampions of Change Award in 2019, for his exceptional work forDumka andBarhait constituency inJharkhand. The award was conferred by ShriPranab Mukherjee atVigyan Bhavan New Delhi on 20 January 2020.[35][36]
Soren is married toKalpana Soren and has two sons. He had an elder brother lateDurga Soren and has an elder sister Anjali Soren and a younger brotherBasant Soren.[37] He is an ardent follower ofBirsa Munda, the nineteenth century tribal warrior, and takes inspiration from his courage and valour.[38][39] His fatherShibu Soren is the key founder ofJharkhand Mukti Morcha.
Support for tribal rights and opposition toDirect Benefit Transfer (DBT) in PDS, Advocacy for a liquor ban inJharkhand.[citation needed]
Soren was accused of involvement in a land scam case for which he was being investigated by theEnforcement Directorate (ED).
On 29 January 2024, the ED declared Soren "untraceable" and "missing" for 30 hours after an investigation began at his residence inNew Delhi, from where he had left just minutes earlier. He later arrived at his official residence inRanchi, the capital of Jharkhand, on 30 January 2024.[40] He later remarked that he "resides in the heart of his people." Earlier, he had skipped nine summonses from the ED.[41][42]
On 31 January 2024, Soren was arrested by the ED. Before his arrest, he submitted his resignation to theGovernor of Jharkhand,C. P. Radhakrishnan, who immediately appointedChampai Soren as his designated replacement. Champai Soren was sworn in as Chief Minister on 2 February 2024.[43][44] Hemant Soren was granted bail in the land scam case by theJharkhand High Court on 28 June 2024.[45] He is serving as the current Chief Minister of Jharkhand since 4 July 2024.
| Year | Constituency | Party | Votes | % | Opponent | Opponent Party | Opponent Votes | % | Result | Margin | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Barhait | JMM | 95,612 | 58.95 | Gamliyel Hembrom | BJP | 55,821 | 34.42 | Won | 39,791 | 24.53 | ||
| 2019 | Barhait | 73,725 | 53.49 | Simon Malto | 47,985 | 34.82 | Won | 25,740 | 18.67 | ||||
| Dumka | 81,007 | 48.86 | Louis Marandi | 67,819 | 40.91 | Won | 13,188 | 7.95 | |||||
| 2014 | Barhait | 62,515 | 46.18 | Hemlal Murmu | 38,428 | 28.32 | Won | 24,087 | 17.86 | ||||
| Dumka | 64,864 | 41.5 | Louis Marandi | 69,760 | 44.65 | Lost | -4,896 | -3.15 | |||||
| 2009 | 35,129 | 30.97 | 32,460 | 28.62 | Won | 2,669 | 2.35 | ||||||
| 2005 | 19,610 | 18.33 | Stephen Marandi | IND | 41,340 | 38.65 | Lost | -21,730 | -20.32 | ||||
JMM leader Hemant Soren, son of party chief Shibu Soren, was on Saturday sworn in as the new chief minister of Jharkhand
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM) MLA Hemant Soren was sworn in as Jharkhand's ninth Chief Minister
Soren Shri Hemant Jh fromDumka