New Delhi: Speaking in the Jharkhand assembly ahead of the trust vote on Monday (February), Hemant Soren accused the state’s governor of being involved in his arrest on January 31. Soren had resigned as chief minister just before his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate.“On the night of January 31, for the first time in the country, a chief minister was arrested and I believe that Raj Bhavan was also involved in this incident. January 31 black chapter in India’s history,” Soren, who had been granted permission by the court to attend the floor test, said.Denying all the charges against him in the alleged land scam care filed by the ED, Soren said he would resign from political life if the agency was able to prove a single allegation against him. “Where is this land in the name of Hemant Soren?” he asked, challenging the ED to prove its accusations.“I will not shed tears. I will hold it till the time comes. The tears of Adivasis mean nothing to you,” he said on the floor of the assembly. “The BJP doesn’t want a tribal chief minister to complete five years in Jharkhand, they did not allow this in its regimes.”He went on to accuse the BJP of mistreating all Adivasi and Dalit communities, of denying them of their dignity. “They are not ashamed to say things like, ‘These people came from the jungle and should stay in the jungle.’ We have come out of the jungle and reached their level, but they look at us as untouchables. I was working to break these perceptions. My government was working to uplift the very communities they are looking down upon.”“I have not given up. They think that by putting me in jail, they will win. But this is Jharkhand. This is state where from every corner, our Adivasi, Dalit, backward community fighters have laid down their lives for their communities,” Soren said.The regime in power, Soren said, was trying its hardest to suppress Adivasi and other marginalised communities. “I knew they would not let me finish my term. They cannot see people like me become chief ministers, judges, top officials… so they did all they could to ensure my five years in the post were not completed.”“I have not learnt to walk with my head down,” the former chief minister said. “From the time I came to power, they have ridiculed me, made fun of me, for the planes I take, the hotels I stay in, the cars I drive in.”This is a long battle, Soren said. “We were told on January 22 that ‘Ram Rajya’ has come. The first step of that was in Bihar [referring to Nitish Kumar’s party swap]. The second step was in Jharkhand, when an Adivasi chief minister was arrested. …I have no regrets whatsoever. Maybe now they will say I cannot fight elections. But Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has always fought for the state’s dignity, rights, and more, and it will continue to do that, whether the fight is electoral, legal or on any other standard. We have never stepped back, and we won’t step back now.”Soren said that the court has said he cannot speak to the media. He asked the ED if he can speak in the assembly, and the ED told him he cannot. “Look at the situation we are in. What is next? People will be arrested from the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha? Already we have seen record suspensions. Look at where we are now. I am telling my Adivasi, Dalit, backward caste brothers – be ready, the battle is long. If we do not fight this now, the generations to come will not forgive us.”