Hemant Soren, leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), took the oath as the 14th Chief Minister of Jharkhand in a grand ceremony on Thursday.
The 49-year-old tribal leader was sworn in by Jharkhand Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar.
The swearing-in ceremony took place at Morabadi ground in Ranchi, attended by key leaders from the INDIA bloc.
Prominent political figures at the event included Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, CPI(ML) leader Dipankar Bhattacharya, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Bihar’s Tejashwi Yadav.
Prior to the oath-taking, Soren met with his father and JMM president Shibu Soren.
This marks Hemant Soren's fourth term as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand.
Soren retained his Barhait seat by defeating BJP’s Gamliyel Hembrom with a margin of 39,791 votes in the recent elections. The JMM-led alliance secured a strong victory, winning 56 out of 81 seats in the Jharkhand assembly, while the BJP-led NDA won 24 seats.
Tribal troupes in traditional attire performed dances to 'dhol and nagara' music, and schools in Ranchi remained closed for the event.
On Tuesday, Soren had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, in his first visit to the national capital after leading the alliance to an unprecedented second consecutive term.
Hours before taking the oath, Soren took to X, asserting that unity is the biggest weapon of people of the state, who can "neither be divided nor silenced". In an apparent attack on the BJP-led central government, Soren also said whenever "they try to silence us", the revolution grows louder. "Let there be no doubt about it - our unity is our biggest weapon. We can neither be divided nor silenced. Whenever they push us back, we move forward. Whenever they try to silence us, our voice of rebellion and revolution grows louder because we are Jharkhandis, and Jharkhandis do not bow down," Soren posted on X in Hindi.