4 Aug 2025 : Remembering former Jharkhand chief minister Shibu Soren as a mass leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was pained at his death on Monday.
He said, in a post on X, that Shibu Soren, a former union minister, was “a grassroots leader who rose through the ranks of public life with unwavering dedication to the people”.
“He was particularly passionate about empowering tribal communities, the poor and downtrodden,” Modi’s post further said.
Shibu Soren, 81, was on ventilator support for over a month while receiving treatment at Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. He was hospitalised in the last week of June with a kidney-related issue.
The news of his death was shared by his son Hemant Soren, who is chief minister of Jharkhand at present.
A founder of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, a movement for a separate state to be carved out of Bihar, he became Jharkhand CM thrice but could not complete any of the terms. He remained in the Rajya Sabha too, and represented the Dumka seat in the Lok Sabha multiple times. He was union minister for coal in Manmohan Singh’s UPA government.
Summary :
Prime Minister Modi paid tribute to former Jharkhand CM Shibu Soren, calling him a “grassroots leader” devoted to tribal empowerment and uplifting the marginalized.