RANCHI, Aug. 5 -- A towering figure, creator of separate Jharkhand state and three-time former chief minister, who never completed his term, Shibu Soren, died in a Delhi hospital on Monday after a prolonged illness. Soren was the founder of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, a party which is ruling Jharkhand and has been a major constituent of the INDIA bloc. Dishum Guruji, as he was popularly known for his campaigns against local money lenders (called Mahajans) and liquor, was 81. He is survived by three sons Durga Soren, Hemant Soren, and Basant Soren and a daughter, Anjali Soren. His son Hemant Soren is chief minister of Jharkhand and Basant Soren represents Dumka in the state assembly, a constituency from where his father started his electoral politics. Soren was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980 from Dumka. Born in Nemra village under Gola block in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand in 1944, Shibhu Soren's father, Shobaran Soren, was allegedly killed by a local moneylender's thugs when he was only 15, according to JMM leaders. This left a deep impact on him and became a catalyst for his future social and political activism. He started a violent campaign against the Mahajans taking away land records held by them and giving them back to tribals. He also simultaneously launched an awareness campaign making tribals to quit liquor consumption. "Later he started his Ashram in Tundi in Dhanbad, promoting education among tribals, and a campaign against liquor. He also ran a night school in his ashram, which was kind of promoting adult education among the tribals," said Manoj Pandey, spokesperson of JMM. Shibu Soren started his political journey, as well as separate Jharkhand movement, in 1973 when he joined forces with Bengali Marxist trade union leader AK Roy and Kurmi-Mahato leader Binod Bihari Mahato to form Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). While Mahto became its first president, Soren became the general secretary of JMM. Soren became the party president after murder of the then president Nirmal Mahto in August 1987 and he continued to hold the post till April 15, 2025 when Hemant Soren was chosen the party president and Shibu Soren was made the "Patron" of the party. Though Soren hailed from the present Ramgarh district (earlier Hazaribag), he turned Dumka, over a hundred kilometres away, and the tribal-dominated Santhal Parganas division of the state into his pocket borough and a fortress of the JMM. "It was late Sinon Marandi, the first MLA of the JMM (elected as member of Bihar Assembly in 1977), who invited Shibu Soren to extend his socio-political work from Chhtanagour to Santhal Parganas. Very soon, he gained popularity in the area and won his first election from Dumka Lok Sabha in 1980. Ever since, Santhal Parganas has remained JMM's political fortress," a JMM leader said. He was an eight-time MP from Dumka. Presently, he was a member of the Rajya Sabha. This was also his third term in Rajya Sabha. Soren had three short terms as chief minister of Jharkhand - (2-11 March 2005, 27 Aug. 2008-12 Jan. 2009 and 30 Dec. 2009-31 May 2010). He also served as Union minister for brief periods on three occasions in the Manmohan Singh cabinet (2-11 March 2005, 27 Aug. 2008-12 Jan. 2009 and 30 Dec. 2009-31 May 2010). Another facet of his politics was public meetings in the night so that tribals could attend. "As his supporters belonged to poor backgrounds, it was convenient for them to attend the meetings during the night after working during the daytime," Pandey said, adding that these late-night meetings gradually became an inherent feature of the JMM organisation. Babulal Marandi, first Jharkhand CM and now BJP leader, said Soren would be remembered for two things - for his campaign against liquor and his movement against the Mahajani system. "More than a politician, I would remember him as a social reformer," Marandi said. "Liquor and Mahajani Pratha (money lending system) were the two biggest banes for the tribal community in the region. He launched his social campaign against these two evils which ultimately earned him the name Guruji (teacher)," he added. Marandi defeated Soren twice in Lok Sabha election from Dumka in 1998 and 1999. Even supporters in his party consider him more of a social reformer who happened to be a politician. "He was a social activist at heart, but gradually also donned the role of a politician as he knew both are intertwined. He knew the importance of being in power to solve the issues plaguing the poor, especially the tribal community," said Supriyo Bhhatacharya, general secretary of JMM, who has worked closely with Soren senior. Bhattacharya, who was inducted into the youth wing of the JMM from the Forward Bloc, by the senior Soren himself, claimed that he was not power hungry. "In 2009, he lost the Tamar assembly by-poll and had to relinquish the post of chief minister barely a few months after being in office. We went to see him. We were nervous about how to tell him that he would have to visit Raj Bhawan to resign. But when we reached his official residence in Morhabadi, we saw him working in the small orchard on his campus," he said. Soren, however, also courted controversies along his political journey, including being booked in two murder cases - Chirdih Massacre in 1975 and murder of his personal assistant Shashi Nath Jha in 1994, but was acquitted eventually in both the cases. His party also made headlines for having accepted money for voting in favour of the then Narsimha Rao government, which later came to be known as the JMM bribery case. Soren and four of his party MPs, however, got away as the Supreme Court had refused to act against the party MPs, despite being proved that they had accepted money in lieu of their support, due to the parliamentary privilege of the parliamentarians....