Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren takes guard of honor in slippers; here's why

Ranchi: A picture showing Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in slippers is being seen by a lot of people on Facebook. The event is related to the Chief Minister taking a guard of honor in Ramgarh on January 2 where he arrived to offer prayers at Siddha Peeth Rajarappa temple along with his family.

On taking a guard of honor in slippers, Hemant Soren related the truth about this picture, saying he does not believe in the orthodox tradition. Soren wrote, "While some people are sharing this picture to show my simplicity, others are telling me that I have failed to honour the tradition. The truth is that the policemen were waiting for me, standing in the rain, for extending guard of honour to me, I, therefore, decided to first relive them as early as I could."

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Sharing the picture of facebook, JMM Executive President and new Jharkhand Chief Minister said that "as far as the tradition of wearing shoes is concerned, this was a British tradition and I do not believe in that." He further added, "I am determined to end this tradition of deputing policemen on the VIP duty very soon so that they are spared to spend more time in the service of people." 

Notably, Hemant Soren today called on former President Pranab Mukherjee and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal. Soren, who is also the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief, first met former President at his residence. The meeting of Soren with the former President and Kejriwal lasted for over 30 minutes each.

Earlier on December 29, Hemant Soren took oath as 11th chief minister of Jharkhand. The swearing-in ceremony was attended by several leaders from different states, including former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. 

DMK president MK Stalin, Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh, and RJD executive President Tejashwi Yadav also attended the ceremony. 

The grand alliance comprising JMM-Congress-RJD stormed to power in Jharkhand winning 47 out of 81 seats. The BJP, however, managed to win only 24 seats in the state with Chief Minister Raghubar Das also losing his traditional Jamshedpur East assembly seat to rebel party leader Saryu Rai.

(With Agency Inputs)