Every period of history has produced heroic sons and daughters of our motherland who have, by dint of their sheer genius, given expression to the spirit of India. Some have been like the stars in the Saptarshi constellation — they continue to guide us on the way. Bhagwan Birsa Munda was one the brightest stars in the constellation that illuminates the path of the nation.
As the nation begins the year-long celebrations of the 150th birth anniversary of this iconic figure in the history of modern India, I bow in gratitude to his blessed memory. I also recall how, during my childhood, hearing the legends of Bhagwan Birsa Munda made me and my friends feel very proud of our legacy.
In a short life of only 25 years, the boy from Ulihatu in today’s Jharkhand became the hero of the people’s resistance against colonial exploitation. When the British authorities and local landlords were exploiting tribal communities, grabbing their lands and committing atrocities, Bhagwan Birsa rose against this social and economic injustice and led people to fight for their rights. Known as “Dharti Aba” (“Father of the Earth”), Bhagwan Birsa organised the “Ulgulan” or the Munda Rebellion against British oppression in the late 1890s.
The Ulgulan, of course, was much more than a rebellion. It was a fight for both justice and cultural identity. Bhagwan Birsa Munda’s astute understanding brought together, on the one hand, the right of tribal people to own and cultivate their lands without interference, and on the other hand, the importance of tribal customs and social values. Like Mahatma Gandhi, his struggle was guided by a quest for justice and truth.
Nursing the sick was a passion for him. He was trained as a healer, and a series of incidents made people believe that god had gifted him with a healing touch. He urged people to bring to him anyone who was unwell, adding, “If this is not possible I would myself come to visit the sick.” He went around villages, calling on the sick, and cured innumerable people with his skills and with his healing touch.
The saga of his sacrifice is also one of the crucial links in the history of great revolutionaries from India’s tribal communities. Their struggles underline the unique tradition of this land, where no community is ever apart from the mainstream. Forest-dwellers, today subsumed under the category of the Scheduled Tribes, have always been part of the national collective.
There was a time when Bhagwan Birsa Munda and others were named among “unsung heroes” of history. In recent times, however, their valour and sacrifices have come to be appreciated in true light. During “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav”, we celebrated the glorious history of India’s culture and achievements, which helped people, especially the youth, to learn more about the valiant contributions of great patriots who had remained lesser known earlier.
This new engagement with history received a fillip when the government in 2021 decided to celebrate Bhagwan Birsa Munda’s birth anniversary, November 15, as “Janjatiya Gaurav Divas” to remember the contributions of the tribal freedom fighters. The commemoration of Bhagwan Birsa Munda’s legacy puts the long underrepresented tribal histories at the centre of India’s history.
These histories are all the more relevant today, as they teach the modern world crucial lessons in living in harmony with nature and conserving ecology. I well remember that when I was a child, I used to see my father seek forgiveness for hacking even dried woods which were to be used for fuel. Typically, tribal societies are content as they put far more premium on collective goodness than individual ambitions.
This distinctive feature of the tribal societies needs to be nurtured for a better future of humankind. That is the precise reason behind the broader effort of the government, launched during the last decade, to give due recognition to the importance of tribal communities in India’s socio-cultural fabric. It has announced a series of programmes and schemes with a view to take welfare beyond slogans and to the ground. For a more holistic approach to tribal development and welfare, the Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan was launched last month to fill the gaps in social infrastructure in nearly 63,000 tribal villages. Moreover, the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN) focuses on 11 critical interventions to make welfare initiatives more effective.
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I believe that working relentlessly for the all-round development of ST communities is the real tribute the nation can pay to Bhagwan Birsa Munda and other freedom fighters from tribal areas. It is a matter of immense satisfaction for me that the Rashtrapati Bhavan too has taken new initiatives to reach out to the ST communities. It was my good fortune to inaugurate “Janjatiya Darpan”, a gallery in the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum, that provides a glimpse of rich art, culture and contributions of tribal communities in nation-building. During the Conference of Governors in August, I had the opportunity to emphasise the need for better resource utilisation for tribal welfare.
It was a humbling experience for me when I had an extensive interaction with representatives of 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) who were invited to visit Rashtrapati Bhavan. They shared with me their joys and sorrows. If there is one accomplishment I am proud of, it is the fact that our tribal brothers and sisters see in me occupying the highest constitutional office an unprecedented recognition for us all.
In celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Bhagwan Birsa Munda, we are celebrating this feeling which I am sure all of us share. I believe Bhagwan Birsa Munda’s ideals are a source of pride as well as inspiration for the youth of not only tribal communities but of all communities, in every part of the country. His aspirations — freedom, justice, identity and dignity — are the aspirations of every youth.
The writer is President of India
