Tundi (Jharkhand), Aug 5 (PTI) Sixty-eight-year-old Bahamuni Murmu, who cooked for Shibu Soren in the early 1970s at his Tundi-based ashram in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district, recalled his initial struggle for the upliftment of tribals and underprivileged people.
Soren, who died in a Delhi hospital on Sunday, had also opened a night school in Pokharia village in Tundi to educate tribals and the poor.
“Guruji lived in the ashram for about three years. After that, he stopped coming. I used to prepare food for him at the ashram. He had simple dietary habits, usually eating roti and sabji,” said Murmu, who still resides at the ashram with her family and looks after it.
She recalled that Guruji distributed lanterns, chalk, and slate boards among villagers so that tribal children could study at night.
“He also taught villagers at night, as they worked in the fields during the day,” said Murmu, who has a large photo of Shibu Soren in her room.
The JMM co-founder passed away on Monday at a hospital in Delhi while undergoing treatment for kidney-related ailments. He was 81.
The mortal remains of the former Jharkhand chief minister were consigned to flames on Tuesday in his ancestral village, Nemra, in Ramgarh district.
Another villager, Phoolmani Devi, 67, said people used to visit Soren from great distances to meet him at the Ashram.
“Guruji distributed agricultural equipment such as spades and other tools and encouraged youths to take up farming,” she added.
Devi said that Soren had launched the ‘Dhankatni’ (paddy harvest) movement in the village.
“Previously, moneylenders would seize farmers’ harvests when they failed to repay loans. Soren decided that farmers should harvest their paddy themselves without handing it over to moneylenders,” she added. PTI SAN NN
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