Kalpana Murmu Soren, wife of incarcerated former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, who led the INDIA bloc in wresting three tribal seats from BJP while retaining its own seats has termed the Lok Sabha results a revenge for the “unjustified” custodial death of octogenarian Jesuit priest and tribal right activist Stan Swamy.

In a social media post on Thursday, shared on Hemant Soren’s page, Kalpana Soren claimed: "The election outcome in Jharkhand is the beginning of taking revenge for the unjustified custodial death of 84-year-old Jesuit priest and Adivasi rights activists Father Stan Swamy - which was a black spot on India’s democracy and human rights scenario.”

In the Lok Sabha polls, the ruling coalition of JMM-Congress-RJD and other allies of the INDIA bloc wrested Lohardaga, Khunti and Dumka (all ST reserved seats) from the BJP.

The INDIA bloc also managed to retain Singhbhum and Rajmahal Lok Sabha seats decimating the BJP from all the five ST reserved Lok Sabha seats (out of a total of 14) in the state which accounts for 28 ST reserved Assembly segments in the Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha. The state Assembly polls are scheduled at the end of this year.

While the JMM won three seats (Singhbhum, Dumka and Rajmahal), the Congress bagged Khunti and Lohardaga.

Tribal bodies and rights outfits have been demanding punishment for those responsible for the “murder” of Stan Swamy and members of Shaheed Father Stan Swamy Nyay Morcha have submitted a memorandum addressed to President Droupadi Murmu on the second death anniversary of Stan Swamy on July 5 last year.

Father Stan Swamy, a tribal rights activist, was accused by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of conspiring with the Maoists to overthrow the Indian government. The Parkinson’s patient was arrested in October 2020 from Namkum near Ranchi in Jharkhand and kept in a Mumbai jail where he contracted Covid-19. He died in custody at a hospital in July 2021, after suffering a cardiac arrest.

The Arsenal Consulting, in its report published in The Washington Post in 2022, states that digital evidence used to arrest Stan Swamy in the Bhima Koregaon case was planted into his computer’s hard drive.

Kalpana Soren also claimed on X, “As Father Stan who raised voice for oppressed and poor was silenced through institutional negligence and injustice similar injustice and oppression is being meted out to Hemant Soren.”

“It is the need of the hour for every Jharkhandi to stand for Hemant Soren otherwise they (BJP) will make Jharkhand into another Manipur,” she said.