From a schoolteacher to tribal leader, Shibu Soren’s political journey was an arduous one, but his influence was such that every household in Jharkhand addressed him as ‘Dishom Guru’ (’teacher of the nation’).
The Santal tribal leader, who passed away in Delhi on Monday following a protracted battle with kidney-related ailments, carries the weight of his political legacy, exceeding 40 years, which began at just 15, when his father Shobaran Soren was allegedly killed by moneylenders.
आदरणीय दिशोम गुरुजी हम सभी को छोड़कर चले गए हैं।
— Hemant Soren (@HemantSorenJMM) August 4, 2025
आज मैं शून्य हो गया हूँ...
Born in Nemra village of Ramgarh district (then Bihar state), Soren belonged to the Santal tribe.
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His political journey began at 18 when he formed the Santhal Navyuvak Sangh. During the 1960s, Soren started a movement, ‘Dhankatni Andolan’, against the moneylending system. At that time, tribals used to give a large part of their earnings and crops to moneylenders, and Soren decided to fight against this. He went from villages to village in his bicycle, creating awareness against this system.
He also began taking night classes for tribals inside the dense forests of Parasnath as a means to teach them village economy and the need to shun alcohol. These efforts made him a hero among tribals, after which the Santal community honoured him with the description of ‘Dishom Guru’ or ‘teacher of all directions’.
In 1972, Soren formed Jharkhand Mukti Morcha along with Bengali Marxist trade union leader A. K. Roy and Kurmi-Mahato leader Binod Bihari Mahato.
Until then, tribal resistance in the Chotanagpur-Santhal region had been scattered, erupting in bursts of anger against moneylenders, landlords, and state neglect.
With the birth of the JMM, that energy found structure, and the statehood demands of Jaipal Singh, an Oxford-returned tribal Christian and founder of the Jharkhand party (expressed as early as the 1900s), found new direction. Formely known as the Adivasi Mahasabha, it was renamed to add impetus to Jharkhand's statehood cause.
Drawing from a legacy of rebellion that included Adivasi freedom fighter Birsa Munda’s 19th-century uprising, Soren coined the term “Ulgulan” (revolt) to define the JMM's mission: fighting dispossession, demanding land rights, and calling for the creation of a separate tribal state.
By the late 1990s, the JMM was not just a party, but also a movement in itself, playing a key part in organised mass protests, political resolutions, and coalition-building through the Jharkhand Coordination Committee.
This helped bring together 16 diverse parties—all of whom aimed to achieve statehood for Jharkhand. The Bihar Assembly’s resolution in July 1997 led the Union government to pass the Bihar Reorganisation Act, paving the way for the formation of the state of Jharkhand three years later, on Birsa Munda’s birth anniversary.
