RANCHI (TIP): Hemant Soren on Thursday, November 28, 2024, was sworn in as the 14th Chief Minister of Jharkhand at Morabadi Ground here.
Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr. Soren.

The Swearing-in ceremony was attended by the top leaders of INDIA bloc including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal and his wife Sunita Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Tamil Nadu Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin, Congress leader Tariq Anwar, Purnea MP Pappu Yadav, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya and many more leaders. Hemant Soren said that unity is our biggest weapon. We can neither be divided nor silenced.

Before taking oath, he touched the feet of his father Shibu Soren and mother Rupi Soren who were also present on the stage. He took oath as Chief Minister for the fourth term and with this, Mr. Soren is the only leader to win the term for the second time in succession.

Mr. Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 31, 2024, followed by resignation and Champai Soren, now with the BJP, was made the Chief Minister. He later won the legal battle and Jharkhand High Court granted him bail on June 28, 2024 and he came out of jail.

Ahead of oath-taking ceremony, Hemant Soren’s plea for exemption from court appearances was rejected

After his release from the jail, he was sworn in as Jharkhand Chief Minister for the third term on July 4, 2024 and INDIA bloc emerged victorious by winning a whopping 56 out of 81 assembly seats in the recently concluded assembly election.

Mr. Soren inherited politics after the death of Shibu Soren’s elder son Durga Soren and played a pivotal role in Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). For some time, he was also a Rajya Sabha member and Deputy Chief Minister of Jharkhand during the coalition government of Arjun Munda.

He was a student of BIT Mesra but he left his studies midway and entered politics. Mr. Soren contested the assembly elections for the first time in 2005 from Dumka seat but lost to JMM rebel Stephen Marandi. However, in 2009, he became MLA for the first time.

He took charge as Chief Minister for the first time in 2013 with the help of Congress, RJD and others. He became MLA for the second time from Barhait assembly of Santhal Pargana region. In the 2014 assembly elections, JMM became the second largest party and Mr. Soren was made the leader of the opposition.

After the results of the Assembly elections held in 2019, Mr. Soren on December 29, 2019 took oath as the Chief Minister of the state for the second time.

His wife Kalpana Soren entered politics soon after he went to jail and during his jail time she won bypoll and emerged winner from Gandey assembly seat. She defeated BJP’s candidate Muniya Devi in Gandey by 17142 votes. Even Mr. Soren retained the Barhait seat by defeating BJP’s Gamliyel Hembrom by a margin of 39,791 votes.

National Democratic Alliance won 24 seats in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, with the Jharkhand Loktrantrik Krantikari Morcha led by Jairam Tiger Mahto picking up the remaining seat.

Except Mr. Soren no other minister took oath. However, as per the informed sources, the formula has already been discussed in which JMM will get 6 ministerial berths, Congress 4 and RJD 1. CPI(ML)L may not opt to be the part of the cabinet like in the previous government.

After taking oath, Mr. Soren posted a message on a social media platform in Hindi saying, “Today’s historic occasion is dedicated to the struggle of the immortal brave martyrs, great revolutionaries and agitators of Jharkhand… Today’s emotional moment is dedicated to the crores of people of Jharkhand… Abua Sarkar – Government of every Jharkhandi.”