Newsmaker | The ‘temporary’ Jharkhand CM, Champai Soren gives up his chair

Five months after he took over as Jharkhand Chief Minister, Champai Soren resigned from the post on Wednesday, handing the reins back to JMM executive president Hemant Soren.

Following his bail on June 28, Hemant was on Wednesday elected the JMM-led ruling coalition’s leader. According to insiders, Champai was initially reluctant to step down but he was convinced by senior leaders to ensure a smooth transfer of power.

A veteran of the Jharkhand statehood movement and a close aide of Hemant’s father Shibu Soren, 67-year-old Champai stepped up to fill the vacuum after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Hemant five years ago in a case of alleged money laundering. Before becoming the CM, Champai held several key portfolios such as welfare and transport.

Born to a family of farmers in Jilingagoda village in Saraikela-Kharsawan district, Champai grew up in poverty and joined the movement for a separate Jharkhand quite young. “In his mind, he was always drawn to the welfare of the people of the village, that is Adivasis. That is one of the reasons he did not study after Class 10 and immersed himself in the Jharkhand movement,” said a person who has known the JMM leader for a long time.

As the statehood movement picked pace in the 1970s — the JMM was formed in 1973 — Champai Soren, often referred to as the “Tiger of Kolhan” by his supporters, started mobilising people for the cause. Once in the 1990s, he led an agitation at the gates of Tata Steel in Jamshedpur to push for the rightful demand of unorganised labourers, said people close to him.

In 1993, a case was registered against him under sections of the Explosive Substances Act. In his Election Commission affidavit from 2019, the JMM veteran described the case as a