Shibu Soren undisputed leader of JMM

Shibu Soren was unanimously elected president of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha for the 10th year in succession. Soren’s son, Hemant, who is the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, was elected working president for the third time in a row.

The election was held at the 12th general convention of the party held in Ranchi on Saturday.

The party won the 2019 Assembly elections under the leadership of Hemant Soren. Giving its best performance, so far, the JMM secured 30 and formed a coalition government with the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) with a total of 47 seats in the 81-member house. Interestingly, even after two years of the Hemant Soren-led government’s rule, the government is stable, with no threat from either within the JMM or from the Congress or RJD in the state.

JMM has been in existence for over 50 years and has taken up issues concerning various sections of the society, especially the tribals. It has organised protests against illegal mining and deforestation, to becoming a major pivot in the politics of undivided Bihar and later in Jharkhand, after the formation of the state.

In the past few months, several Congress MLAs have questioned the government’s decisions on certain issues, but the JMM’s strong numbers in the alliance have led Hemant Soren to stick to his decisions. Since its inception on November 15, 2000, the command of Jharkhand has remained with the Soren family. In 2005, 2008 and 2009,

Earlier, Shibu Soren was installed as the Chief Minister of the state in 2005, 2008 and 2009, while his son Hemant became the Chief Minister in 2013 and in 2019.

Hemant Soren’s government is the longest running government of the JMM, the shortest serving government in the state lasted 11 days.

In his address at the JMM convention, Hemant Soren said: “Earlier the opponents used to spread false information about us and question our government’s capability of serving the tribal-indigenous people. But now we have proved them within two years, that we work in favour of the poor, labourers, and farmers of Jharkhand. Today the opposition has been silenced.”