Ranchi, September 06, 2026: Jharkhand’s education administration has been touched by an unusually painful sequence of events. Since April 2023, the state has lost three ministers who were associated with its education portfolios, with the latest being Higher and Technical Education Minister Sudivya Kumar Sonu.
The deaths occurred over a period of roughly three and a half years, turning what would otherwise be separate tragedies into a striking and deeply unfortunate coincidence in Jharkhand’s political history.
Jagarnath Mahto was the first
The sequence began with Jagarnath Mahto, who served as Jharkhand’s School Education and Literacy Minister.
Mahto died on April 6, 2023. His death was a major loss for the state government and the Jharkhand political establishment.
At the time, he was one of the prominent faces associated with the school education portfolio.
Ramdas Soren’s death followed in 2025
The education department suffered another loss a little over two years later.
Ramdas Soren, who was handling the School Education and Literacy Department, died on August 15, 2025.
His death once again left the state’s education administration without its ministerial head and added another painful chapter to the department’s recent history.
Sudivya Kumar Sonu becomes the third loss
The sequence has now extended to the higher education side of the department with the death of Sudivya Kumar Sonu.
Sonu was serving as Jharkhand’s Higher and Technical Education Minister when he died suddenly on September 6, 2026.
Unlike the earlier two ministers, Sonu was responsible for the higher and technical education portfolio rather than school education. However, his association with the education sector places his death within the same broader pattern that has drawn attention across the state.
A coincidence that has left Jharkhand reflecting
Three separate deaths involving ministers responsible for education-related portfolios between 2023 and 2026 have created an unusual and sombre coincidence.
The circumstances do not establish any connection between the three deaths. What makes the sequence notable is simply the succession of losses involving the state’s political leadership in education within a relatively short period.
For Jharkhand’s political establishment, the deaths of Jagarnath Mahto, Ramdas Soren and now Sudivya Kumar Sonu represent three separate losses. Together, however, they have created a chapter that is likely to be remembered as one of the state’s most unfortunate coincidences involving its education leadership.
