‘They can continue to target me, I’m not afraid’: Hemant Soren interviewed before arrest

JMM leader and former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren said he was not afraid of the probe agency’s action and slammed the BJP-led Center for targeting him through them to achieve “political objectives”.

Soren, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday, told Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal in a YouTube show “Dil Se” recorded before his arrest that since the JMM government in Jharkhand was formed, Efforts have been ongoing to overthrow the government.

“As soon as I formed the government, it started facing challenges with the participation of our main opposition figures, but we solved the problem,” he said while speaking to Sibal. The interview was shot in Delhi on Tuesday. It was released on Thursday.

Solon said, only half-jokingly, that the ED had grown fond of him and had been issuing subpoenas to him since 2022. “There is no FIR, there is no name, but the agency keeps trying to prove ‘you have violated the law,'” the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) executive president said in an interview.

“The ER took a liking to me. They didn’t say in the subpoena why they called me. They thought I would follow their orders. I said they had to tell me the reason before I would come. When they explained the reason, I said I would come,” Soren said.

He alleged that the investigation agency’s action was aimed at mentally harassing leaders who are opposing the BJP and their families.

“We (JMM) do politics on our own merits, we have always stood our ground and we will protect what we have built,” he asserted. About the Indian opposition group and its future, Soren said there is nothing wrong with the political sphere possible.

Regarding the actions of the investigating agency, the former chief minister of Jharkhand said that he was used to all this. “They know if I’m on the floor, they’re going to have problems. Threats first, then inducements, then tricks like this… When they can’t win politically, they use other means,” he explain.

“They can continue to target me, I don’t care. I’m not afraid of this. We go into power politics because only then can we support the people,” Solon said. Sibal said that from Arvind Kejriwal, Lalu Prasad to former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, many Opposition leaders and chief ministers have been targeted by investigative agencies.

The former federal minister asked Soren if his officials were also being targeted, to which the JMM leader replied in the affirmative. “They know that officials are the executive agencies, so they threaten them. In my government, no instructions will be given for doing wrong things, and people who do not do the right things will be punished,” Solon said.

Official sources said the ED arrested Soren after more than seven hours of interrogation over money laundering charges in an alleged land fraud case. Before his arrest, Soren submitted his chief minister’s resignation to Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan at Raj Bhavan in Ranchi and was then taken to the Education Department office.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from associated news agency – PTI)