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Shibu Soren, one of the founders of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and leaders of the movement for a separate state for the tribals of eastern India, died in the national capital on August 4, 2025. He was 81 years old.
Soren was elected to the Lok Sabha eight times and for two terms to the Rajya Sabha during the course of his political career spanning 40 years.
Soren been under treatment at Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital for over a month and his condition had been critical for the past few days.
Experts on tribal rights whom Down To Earth (DTE) spoke to, noted that Soren’s legacy was a ‘mixed’ one.
“At least in post-independent India, he will be greatly remembered because if you look at the way he began mobilising people, particularly from the 1970s onward, that was a kind of movement that was not exclusively Adivasi. Rather, it included more of the marginalised. The ideology behind that movement was taking up the cause of those who were on the margins of society. The movement was also a confluence of left and tribal ones. He spearheaded that movement. They were talking more about ‘Jharkhand’ as a homeland. This included everyone who belonged to Jharkhand. Everyone from Jharkhand must take hold of their destiny and govern themselves. That was the hall mark of Shibu Soren when he was at the peak of his political career. That, to me, is a very important legacy,” Virginius Xaxa, renowned sociologist and visiting professor at the Institute of Human Development, New Delhi, told DTE.
He added that while the outfit Soren founded, the JMM, is today splintered into many factions, the JMM is still a very important party, both regionally and for tribals.
“The second important legacy of Soren is as a regional leader. The rights of the states and various regions, of the periphery, is the very cornerstone of Indian federalism. Regional parties are important since national parties do not always take regional issues into consideration. If you look at the Northeast, why is it that they are able to maintain their distinct identity? It is because the Nagas, Mizos, Khasis and others all have a party of their own. Regional parties try to articulate regional, subnational aspirations. That is why the JMM founded by Soren and others is a very important legacy,” said Xaxa.
Sanjay Basu Mullick, director of Jharkhand Jungle Bachao Aandolan, noted that Soren had always been a ‘controversial character’ in terms of the rights of tribals and their execution.
“That is because he chose a path of compromise and collaboration. As a result of that, certain things could not be translated into reality. For instance, the people’s aspirations of the restoration of their rights over forest, land and water, their demand for self-rule…all these things are yet to be executed in Jharkhand. People sometimes blame him for this. Of course, there is the other side of his character also. He fought for the formation of the state of Jharkhand against the oppressive rule of the then Government of Bihar,” said Mullick.
He added: “Soren emerged like that. But later on, he chose a centrist position. Maybe, his strategy was correct for some people as one cannot achieve anything by confrontation with the state. Some people think Jharkhand finally became a state due to his adoption of this strategy. Earlier movements had failed to achieve this goal,”
As far as how Soren would be remembered was concerned, Mullick said poignantly, “Out of the serious study of Shibu Soren’s political life, the future generations of tribal people may learn what strategy they should adopt to survive and to achieve some of their demands.”
Controversial he may have been. But nobody can ever deny the leadership that Soren provided to the Adivasis.
“He will be remembered as someone who created the Jharkhand identity. He was primarily a fighter. He emerged out of the tribal community to a place of leadership. I would not comment on his later political career. But as a leader of the Jharkhand tribes and creating the Jharkhand identity, he is unequalled,” Ganesh Narayan Devy, thinker and cultural activist, told DTE.