As Jharkhand votes in the second phase of the Assembly elections on Wednesday, Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren sits down with The Indian Express to discuss the polls, his governance track record, the BJP’s allegations against him and his government, and the time he spent in prison in a money laundering case. Excerpts:

Not at all. Our election campaign was based on the last five years of our work. Every place we put this issue forward whereas the BJP worked only to polarise the electorate.

We worked responsibly for governance but the BJP was working in the top gear to crush us and it is that process that I was jailed. I have no qualms accepting that if I have done wrong, then I should be jailed, but when I hadn’t and I still went to jail then I was not able to accept it. From inside the prison premises, I realised that the main idea was to destabilise the government and weaken the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. However, we fought it legally and when I came out on bail I saw that the situation was haywire aur ek toofan aaya hua hai (there is a storm outside) and then I had to get into the system again (by returning as CM) to set the course right.

The attempt was to make the government fall as you saw Champai ji went to the BJP.

These are just stories. I did not remove him from the party. He has been an MLA for long and whenever our government was there he was made a minister. I had a CM post that I gave to Champai, I could not have given the Prime Minister’s post to him.

It has become a fashion nowadays (to change parties). Today, in the same household people have affiliations with different political parties. Today, also we have party leaders such as Stephen Marandi who are fighting elections and never became a minister. This is even though they are the products of the Jharkhand movement. They never said anything. I honoured (Sita Soren) by giving the platform (of the JMM). The ministership is decided based on several factors, not everyone can be accommodated.

This is correct, the state is not in the position to collect the additional revenue as most of it is collected by the Central government. We are trying on our own and we have collected Rs 2,000 crore in new ways. Instead of pumping money into several work-related schemes, sometimes I think we just need to give people money as the schemes are not getting implemented properly.

It is not that we did not do it. It was in motion. We appointed doctors and scientists. Then the Opposition goes to court and then it is a time-consuming process. Directly or indirectly we gave jobs to 1.5 lakh people. But then there are a limited number of seats, which has been made an issue. Also, one-and-a-half months were left, but elections were conducted earlier.

Where is the infiltration? Institutions or people whose job is to find the infiltrators said there were none. In 2023, Amit Shah in Madhya Pradesh said PM Narendra Modi finished infiltration in the entire country. Now why don’t they say it here? The infiltrators are seen in Assam, not here.

Then Amit Shah should leave the job and hand it over to us.

They only know how to use investigative agencies to demoralise and weaken their opponents. Look at the conviction rates. They (BJP) do not have the capacity to go after people who are actually corrupt. Money has also not been found at the premises of Alamgir Alam. They go after people who can influence elections. But they get nothing. Crores were found in schools (in Ranchi) linked to people with the BJP. They say that they are catching thieves, but they themselves are dacoits.

Jail ki duniya hi alag hai (the world inside a jail is completely different). More than half of them don’t deserve prison time. A tribal boy grew up into an adult in jail. People have not seen their families for 10 years as they are so poor that if their families meet them by spending, say Rs 5,000, they won’t be able to eat for the next two months. Some people have a death sentence, but they are clueless about the next course of action. The tribals of Jharkhand — Mundas, Oraons, Hos — don’t understand the legal language and it is a one-way system where access is very limited. Then I saw that there are no health care facilities for women prisoners. But then I also saw how an ecosystem exists which caters to the needs of various people. Prisoners are teaching prisoners and taking care of the elderly among others. It gave me a different worldview.

If my government is formed next, we will keep 20-25 lawyers whose job will be to look into the cases of these prisoners (without access to the justice system). An attempt will be made to recruit lawyers who know various tribal languages so that the tribes can benefit. At least then prisoners can understand what is happening with their cases.

I want to initiate a schooling system in jail because many children study there, taught informally by the prisoners themselves. After I came out, I also initiated changes in remissions so that more and more deserving prisoners could get the benefit … After going to jail, I came to know that the salaries of the prison employees were never revised. When I came out we revised the salaries.

In primary education, we have started CM School of Excellence. There are 80 schools at present and we have to scale up to 5,000 levels. The old set-up cannot be omitted nor can you go full reforms. This is a spider web, hence a parallel set-up has been created where students studying in English medium will get confidence and will be presentable. I am trying a multidimensional approach. In higher education, based on Delhi University, how do we involve research scholars? Why cannot a big law institute start here? We are doing homework. If I can send students to London, then why cannot I do it here?

While air ambulance service has been made available to the common man, there are cases of pregnant women being ferried on cots, some of whom have died due to lack of immediate action.

The ecosystem doesn’t allow it. Due to the forest area, the roads cannot be constructed. People have to reach a mechanic or an air ambulance. Sometimes things are done to dent the image of the government. But I will pick this up strongly.

I went inside as Hemant Soren but when I came outside people started calling me Shibu Soren. I get my inspiration from my father, he is my ideology, and he shows me the way.