A day before former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged land-fraud case, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader said he was not afraid of the actions of probe agencies. In an interview to Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal for his “Dil Se” YouTube programme, Hemant Soren slammed the Bharatiya Janata-led Centre for targeting him through them for “political objectives”.

The interview was shot in New Delhi on Tuesday. It was released on Thursday. In the interview, Hemant Soren said efforts were being made to topple the JMM government in Jharkhand ever since its formation.

The ED arrested Hemant Soren after over seven hours of questioning on money-laundering charges in an alleged land fraud case.

“As soon as I formed the government, it started facing challenges in which our primary opposition people were involved, but we tackled that,” Hemant Soren told Sibal.

In a dig at the probe agency, Hemant Soren said the ED has taken a liking to him and has been sending summonses to him since 2022.

“There is no FIR, there is no name, but the agency keeps trying to establish that ‘you have broken a law’,” the JMM leader said in the interview.

The former Jharkhand CM alleged that the ED action was aimed at mentally harassing leaders who are against the BJP and their families. “We (JMM) do politics on our own strength, we have stood on our own, we will protect what we have built,” Hemant Soren said.

On the actions of probe agencies, the JMM leader said he was becoming used to all this.

“They know that if I am in the field, they will have problems. First, threaten, then give inducements, and then they get to such tactics… When they could not win politically, they are using other means,” the ex-CM said.

“They can keep targeting me, I don’t care. I am not scared of this. We entered power politics because only through this can we support people,” Hemant Soren said.

When asked about the INDIA opposition bloc and its future, Hemant Soren said there is nothing impossible in the realm of politics.

When Sibal asked Hemant Soren whether his officials were also being targeted, the JMM leader answered in the affirmative.

“They know that officials are the executing body, so they are threatening them. In my government, no direction is given for doing wrong and punishment is meted out for not doing the right thing,” he explained.

Just before his arrest, Hemant Soren tendered his resignation as the chief minister to Jharkhand governor CP Radhakrishnan at the Raj Bhavan in Ranchi and was then taken to the ED office.