Give me books, not bouquets, tweets Jharkhand CM-designate Hemant Soren

Political leaders are rarely known to turn down bouquets of flowers. But Hemant Soren on Friday surprised people by asking people to stop greeting him with bouquets.

Tweeting in Hindi, Soren (44), the younger son of former chief minister Shibu Soren, declared that he was often unable to tend to the flowers and that it upset him greatly. Therefore, instead of bouquets of flowers, he requested for books inscribed with the name of the donor.

One day the books gifted to him would find place in a library and would help many more people to enlighten themselves. ‘Please mention your name in the books presented by you; one day they will form part of a library made by us, and your gifted books will help us all to build up on our knowledge,’ he said.

A late entrant to the microblogging site, which he joined in 2018, Soren has over 63 thousand followers on Twitter. His tweet triggered several congratulatory messages and a few lauding him for his initiative. Some of the immediate reactions the tweet received are the following:

· What a noble idea. Ideas like this differentiate between a professional politician and passionate politician.

· Hemant Ji- let’s build libraries across Jharkhand - let’s start a campaign to donate books in the name of the great freedom fighter Birsa Munda - I will donate 50 books

· You have started the innings very well. Let’s hope you will make Jharkhand proud. Set an example to other states.

Earlier on Thursday, after returning from New Delhi, Soren had tweeted the following sentiment: “ On my way back to Ranchi from Delhi yesterday late in the night , I remembered the meeting with Santoshi's mother & her listless eyes speaking about how her daughter died saying 'भात भात', remembered the countless youth who asked me why inspite of studying hard they couldn't get suitable job opportunities. I remember the farmer's family in Mandar who went numb after he committed suicide, jumping into the same well under MGNREGA (& for which he was) denied wage payment.”

This tweet too generated a flood of goodwill for the chief minister designate and a few suggestions as well:

· Please keep a photo of Santoshi and her mother in your office. They'd remind you every day, why you are in office. It should not be difficult to find a photo of them. There are thousands of Santoshis and their mothers in the villages.

· Yes, please work along with Prof Jean Dreze and his team in Jharkhand. Hunger and social security must be your government's priority. I doubt if he would like to be part of the government officially, but I'm sure he will always be available for consultation and guidance.

· Pls bring new projects to wipe out hunger and poverty from Jharkhand. 19 years were wasted, please start concrete steps to build a new Jharkhand where SC/ST, minorities are given their rights and all citizens are treated equally by the state.