After ‘blow to self-respect’, have ‘3 options’: Champai Soren amid BJP-switch buzz

Amid speculations that he was in Delhi to join the BJP, which he has so far denied, senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Champai Soren on Sunday (August 18) posted a detailed message on X, hinting at being “insulted” and “humiliated” by his party when he was asked to resign as the chief minister once Hemant Soren was released on bail. Though he did not mention anyone directly, he ended the post by saying that he has three options — to retire from politics, to form his own party, or to find a like-minded partner on his political journey.

In a long tweet in Hindi, Champai said he had always been into “politics of public concern”. “…on January 31, after an unprecedented turn of events, the India Alliance chose me to serve the state as the 12th Chief Minister of Jharkhand. From the first day of my tenure to the last day (July 3), I discharged my duties towards the state with full devotion and dedication,” he wrote.

“Blow to self-respect”

Without naming anyone, he said “the party leadership” cancelled his programmes as the chief minister because of a legislative party meeting, without letting him know. “Can there be anything more humiliating in a democracy than a chief minister’s programmes being cancelled by another person?” he wrote.

Champai added that for the first time in his four-decade-long political journey, he was “broken from within”. “I could not understand what to do… 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?” he wrote.

“Heart was emotional”

“When the party's central executive meeting has not been held for years, and one-sided orders are passed, then whom should I go to and tell my problems? I am counted among the senior members in this party; the rest are juniors, and the supremo who is senior to me is no longer active in politics due to health, then what option did I have? If he had been active, perhaps the situation would have been different,” he posted, hinting at party president and Hemant Soren’s father Shibu Soren.

He said though the chief minister has the “right to call a meeting of the legislative party”, he was not even told about its agenda. “During the meeting, I was asked to resign. I was surprised, but I had no greed for power, so I immediately resigned, but my heart was emotional due to the blow to my self-respect,” he added in the post.

“Forced to look for alternative path”

“I was so emotional due to the insulting behaviour I was facing for the last three days that I was trying to control my tears, but they were only interested in the chair. I felt as if I had no existence in that party, no existence at all, for which I had dedicated my entire life. In the meantime, many such insulting incidents happened, which I do not want to mention right now. After so much insult and contempt, I was forced to look for an alternative path,” the tweet read.

Champai said he had said in that legislative party meeting that a “new chapter” of his life would begin from then. “I had three options. First, to retire from politics, second, to form my own separate organization, and third, if I find a companion on this path, then to travel further with him,” he wrote, adding that “all options” were open for him till the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections.