Champai Soren, a former chief minister of Jharkhand and leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, expressed his anguish over his treatment at the hands of his own party on Sunday. He said that he was “devastated as his self-respect was harmed” when he was asked to step down from his position following Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s bail release.
In addition, Soren stated that he was taken aback to learn that the party leadership had postponed activities he had planned to attend following Hul Diwas, a Jharkhand festival honouring the martyr Sido Kanhu, the leader of the Santhal insurrection.
“I was broken from within. I could not understand what to do. For two days, I sat quietly and introspected, kept searching for my mistake in the whole incident. I did not have the greed for power even a bit, but to whom could I show this blow to my self-respect? Where could I express the pain inflicted by my own people?” Champai Soren said in his social media post, published in Hindi.
According to news agencies, JMM leader and former chief minister of Jharkhand Champai Soren left for Delhi on Sunday amid rumours that he might join the BJP.
During his “personal” visit to the nation’s capital, Soren informed reporters that he hasn’t met any BJP leaders. However, he later tweeted that he now has options.
“Till the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections, all options are open for me in this journey,” he said.
He told party members at a meeting that ‘a new chapter’ has begun in his life. “A new chapter of my life is going to start from today. I had three options. First, to retire from politics, second, to form my own separate organisation and third, if I find a companion on this path, then to travel further with that companion,” he said.
Soren stated he was holding back his tears when he indicated he sought out a different route due to “insulting behaviour” from his own people.
“Due to the insulting behaviour I was facing for the last three days that I was trying to control my tears I felt as if I had no existence in that party, no existence at all, for which I had dedicated my entire life,” he said.
He stated, “They were interested in the chair only,” without mentioning any names. He remarked, “Many such offensive incidents happened in the interim, which I do not want to mention right now.”
