Tragic coincidence: Hemant Soren cabinet loses 3 education-linked ministers since 2023

Ranchi: The death of JMM leader and minister Sudivya Kumar on Sunday brought to the fore a strange coincidence in Jharkhand, as he happened to be the third minister linked to the education portfolio to die in the state since 2023.

Kumar's demise also marks the death of the fourth serving minister in the Hemant Soren-led government since 2019.

Two other ministers connected to the education portfolio - Jagarnath Mahto and Ramdas Soren - had passed away in 2023 and 2025, respectively.


Kumar, the Higher and Technical Education Minister, died of cardiac arrest early Sunday at a private hospital in Giridih.

A close aide of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, 56-year-old Kumar had emerged as an important political troubleshooter, and played a key role in the government's efforts to engage with students during their recent agitation over alleged job exam irregularities in Ranchi.

Ramdas Soren, who held the School Education and Literacy portfolio, had died in Delhi on August 15, 2025, suffering a serious brain injury after falling at his residence.

Prior to Soren, Mahto, holding the same portfolio, breathed his last in Chennai on April 6, 2023, following prolonged health complications after lung damage linked to COVID-19. He had also undergone a lung transplant in 2020.

Earlier, Haji Hussain Ansari, who served as the state's Minority Affairs Minister, died of post-Covid complications on October 3, 2020.

While there is no known connection between the deaths, the sequence stands out in Jharkhand's recent political history.