Chief minister Hemant Soren on Sunday held his first Janata Durbar at Sahebganj with his party MP Vijay Hansda, where said he “won’t act like a chief minister but as a son, brother and friend”, possibly to distance himself from the “arrogance” of his predecessor, the BJP’s Raghubar Das.

Hemant and JMM’s Rajmahal MP Hansda also distributed assets worth Rs 11,808.90 lakh among 8,301 beneficiaries, including houses, pump sets, farm tools, loans and cash linkage and blankets.

Hemant, who first paid tributes to Santhal freedom fighters Sido, Kanho, Chand and Bhairav, said he was proud to be in the land of heroes. “I feel proud to be in this land,” he said. “The present government will work in sync with the ideals of the brave martyrs of Jharkhand, to achieve the dream for which brave sons of Jharkhand were sacrificed their lives. We all have to achieve it together,” he said.

He appeared conscious of the responsibility of the recent mandate where the JMM-Congress-RJD combine won 47 seats to overthrow the BJP that managed to win 25.

“Today I stand here with a sense of great responsibility. All of you together have given me the highest honour (the CM’s post). Let me assure you that I will not act like a chief minister but as a son, a brother and a friend. Every step of the government will be for public welfare,” he said.

He added that all eyes of people — teachers, farmers, labourers, youths, midday meal cooks — were on him.

Hemant did not shy away from the fact that many government employees had not got salaries and urged them to be patient. “The government will release funds as soon as possible for those who have not received their honorarium and salary. If the government takes work from someone, the worker should be paid. The whole state is a family, keep this feeling in your mind,” Hemant said.

Twenty stalls of various department of the state government were also set up at the Bhognadih stadium in Sahebganj, the venue of the event.