`Nobody asked me to resign'

Interview with JMM leader Shibu Soren.

On March 12, a day after his dramatic ouster from the Chief Minister's office, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Shibu Soren sat surrounded by a motley crowd of his party workers, discussing the future of Jharkhand. Dozing in between a conversation, he was a picture of exhaustion. But his thoughts were not weary. He was not so much worried about his future in State politics as the lot of the tribal people who, he said, were bogged down by their daily struggle for survival.

"Will these people [elected leaders of the National Democratic Alliance], who looted the State for the past four years, do any good for tribal people? Will they provide them employment, two square meals a day? Or drinking water?" he asked. In an interview to Purnima S. Tripathi, the JMM leader said he smelt a "fascist conspiracy" to defame him, adding that he would not allow such nefarious designs to succeed. He said his party workers would take a vow to uproot the Munda government as early as possible. Excerpts:

Why did you take the oath as Chief Minister on March 2 when it was clear that you did not have the numbers?

Who says I did not have the numbers? Harinarayan Rai, Madhu Koda and Enos Ekka [all Ministers in the NDA government now] were with us but they were forcibly taken away by the NDA. Ekka went missing for two days. His wife came weeping to me. If they were acting of their own will, why did the BJP not leave them free? We tried contacting them but we could not reach them because they were in virtual captivity. Is this democratic?

But why did you not take the vote of confidence as directed by the Supreme Court?

How could I? A vote of confidence cannot be conducted by a pro tem Speaker but only by an elected Speaker. We wanted that confusion to be sorted out first. But tell me, why was there so much noise about the entire course of events? Why was just one person called Shibu Soren being singled out as the biggest villain of all? This displays their [NDA's] fascist attitude. They were out to defame me. They had manipulated even the government machinery to single me out for attack. Otherwise, how come the entire country was shaken just by one person?

If you were right, then why did you resign? Was it because the Prime Minister or the Home Minister asked you to?

Nobody asked me to resign, the Prime Minister or the Home Minister. Not even the Governor. I resigned acting on my own conscience. One of my MLAs, Kamlesh Singh, could not come to the Assembly on March 11 because he was admitted to hospital and I did not want to prolong the political drama just for one vote. For me his life is more precious than a vote. I kept the Prime Minister and the Home Minister briefed about everything all through the day and at no stage did they ask me to resign. Even when I met the Governor, he did not ask me to resign as is being projected by the NDA. He merely asked me what I planned do because the government, as per Supreme Court orders, had failed to obtain a vote of confidence. It was then that I decided to quit, of my own free will.

Would you now go back to the Coal Ministry?

That remains to be seen. I will first go to my people and then go and meet Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister. My first commitment is to my people.

Do you hold the Congress responsible for the turn of events?

I'll not answer this question because it will only create bad blood. I will let bygones be bygones. In any case, Sonia Gandhi told me in the beginning itself that nobody should be forced to vote for or against the government. I now only wish that the NDA government will not repeat its past mistakes but work to solve the basic problems such as food, drinking water and employment.