Shibu Soren won his first election in 1980 at the age of 36. He went on to be elected eight times to the Lok Sabha and twice to the Rajya Sabha. He headed governments in Jharkhand thrice, the first time for 10 days, and thereafter for two stints of five months each — too short and too erratic to really assess him as an administrator.

Around 2010, Shibu Soren retreated from public life, while keeping his doors open to a steady stream of ordinary people wanting to meet him. His distrust of governments, state agencies and the bureaucracy ran deep, which might explain his hands-off approach even after his son Hemant Soren became the chief minister of Jharkhand.

The reason for his distrust was simple. Governments, he believed, had but one aim: to take away what belongs to the people — jal, jungle, jameen (water, forest, land), i.e., everything.

What might once have sounded like a simplistic view of governments is unfortunately looking more and more like god’s honest truth. Shibu Soren was possibly — and wilfully — naïve about the role of capital, finance, bureaucracy, the law courts and the police. He remained a sceptic, telling interviewers that change, if any, would have to be ushered in by the people. While he expected little or nothing from governments, his faith in his people did not waver. The Adivasis’ only fault, he said, was lack of education and a fondness for liquor. (He himself remained a vegetarian and a teetotaller for the better part of his life.)