The Real Chowkidar: Shibu Soren Spoke the Language of the People

In 2005, during Jharkhand’s first-ever assembly polls, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) had hired a chopper for Guruji—Shibu Soren. After a week of campaigning, when it was time to see off the pilot, a man named Meer, we sat together for a cup of coffee. As we chatted, Meer—a veteran pilot who had flown almost every big political leader of India in the past three decades, from LK Advani and Lalu Prasad Yadav to Sharad Pawar and Jayalalitha—remarked that he had never met a leader like Shibu Soren.

“We didn’t understand what he meant. We thought perhaps it was Guruji’s simplicity that had impressed him. I asked in surprise, ‘What’s so unique about him?’” recalled JMM MLA from Giridih, Sudivya Kumar Sonu.

A Leader Who Made People Cry, Not Laugh

“The pilot replied, ‘All politicians give speeches that make people laugh. But your leader makes them cry.’”
That, Sonu said, was a defining characteristic of Guruji.

“He would recount his struggles, the sacrifices made for Jharkhand’s formation, why people shouldn’t drink, and why education matters. His words made people reflect deeply. We witnessed it often, but it took an outsider to make us realize how different Guruji’s speeches truly were.”

But it wasn’t just about speeches.

Shibu Soren, a lifelong teetotaler and vegetarian, practiced community farming, held adult literacy classes at night, and organized panchayats to resolve family disputes—in the 1970s itself. At the height of his movement, he travelled mostly on foot through the forests of Giridih, Dhanbad, Bokaro, and Jamtara.

The 81-year-old Soren, who breathed his last today at Delhi’s Gangaram Hospital, stood apart from most Indian politicians. He was one of the rare leaders who was brought into mainstream politics by an IAS officer and mentored by an engineer-turned-social-activist-turned-MP.

Soren’s hold on the oppressed classes—particularly tribal communities—was so strong that even two prominent leaders of the Jharkhand region, Arun Kumar (AK) Roy, a three-time MP from Dhanbad, and advocate Vinod Bihari Mahto, helped shape his political path and the larger movement.

During the Emergency, How a DC in Disguise Brought Guruji into the Mainstream

But the person who brought Guruji into the mainstream was Dhanbad’s then-Deputy Commissioner, IAS officer Kunwar Bahadur (KB) Saxena.

It was during the Emergency declared by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. At the time, Tara Babu Marandi, a government employee at Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), was helping run the Pokharia Ashram in Tundi. He recalled an unusual visitor who arrived on a bicycle, claiming to be a bike mechanic.

“He said he had come to repair Guruji’s bike. When I told him the bike wasn’t working, he asked who would pay him. I said, ‘Guruji will.’ But he insisted on meeting him first. So, I took him to Parasnath Hills where Guruji was. There, the man revealed his identity by showing an ID card—he was the DC of Dhanbad,” Marandi recounted.

Soren was leading a movement against oppressive landlords and advocating for tribal rights. Saxena advised him to surrender to the court, warning that the Emergency and the increasing violence would either get him killed or force him to spend life hiding in forests.

“Guruji listened to the DC patiently. Saxena told him to go to jail temporarily and then return to the movement through legitimate political means. That same day, Guruji surrendered,” Marandi recalled.

Marandi wasn’t the only one inspired by Soren’s vision. He left his government job to join Soren’s movement, as did Chotu Ram Tuddu, a teacher. Tuddu was tortured by landlords after the Kudko double murder case—his head was burnt with cigarettes and he was tied to a jeep and dragged. Believing him dead, they left his body behind.
“I wasn’t even there when the murder happened—I was attending a wedding. But when I returned, I was tortured anyway,” said Tuddu, now 73. His son is currently a Block Development Officer in Ranchi.

In 1980, after Soren was elected MP from Dumka, he visited his comrades in Pirtand, Giridih.

“He told us jokingly, ‘I’m the Bada Chaprasi (senior gatekeeper), and MLAs are Chota Chaprasi (junior gatekeepers).’ We laughed then,” said Babu Ram Hembram, who was with Soren from the early days of the Dhaan Katni (reap the crop) movement.

A Childhood Marked by Tragedy, A Life Shaped by Resolve

“Today, some leaders call themselves Chowkidars and claim to have coined that concept. But it was Guruji who first used such metaphors.”

The roots of Soren’s life struggle go back to his childhood. His father, Sobran Manjhi, a teacher, was killed by landlords when Soren was just 13. He was in Class 8 when the news reached him. He went directly from school to the site where his father had been killed—and never returned to the classroom. That moment changed his life and set him on the path of resistance.

Despite a lifetime of struggle and electoral victories, Soren never enjoyed long tenures in power. Though he became minister and chief minister, he never completed a full term in office. But that was never his goal. Shibu Soren—known affectionately as Guruji and Dishom Guru—belonged to the people.

He never gave up on the idea of social reform. In the 1970s, he urged tribal villagers to give up drinking, warning them that liquor weakened their resolve and made them easy prey for landlords. Decades later, even while campaigning, he would urge people to shun alcohol.

In his five-decade-long public life, Soren served as an eight-time Lok Sabha MP, two-time Rajya Sabha MP, three-time MLA, and three-time Chief Minister of Jharkhand. Yet, his career was not without controversy.

During the movement against landlords, he was accused in two murder cases. Later, in national politics, he was accused of killing his secretary and of accepting bribes during the Narasimha Rao government’s efforts to survive a no-confidence motion.

Even so, Shibu Soren remains a towering figure in Jharkhand’s political history—a man who rose from forest trails and grassroots protests to the halls of Parliament, driven by a singular mission: justice and dignity for the tribal people of Jharkhand.

He may have passed away, but this true tribal leader’s story will continue to inspire generations.