Today, November 15, marks the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda, who was a freedom fighter and a tribal leader. He is remembered for his activism in the late 19th century against British India among other things all under the age of 25.
Birsa Munda was born and brought up in the tribal areas of Bihar and Jharkhand and spent most of his childhood travelling from one village to another with his parents. The fact that it is because of him that the tribal community survived for long, the state of Jharkhand was created on his birth anniversary in 2000 to honour him.
Today, November 15, the Madhya Pradesh government has organised a Tribal Gaurav Diwas to honour Birsa Munda. Approximately, 2.5 lakh tribals will attend the function. Last week,
the government of India declared to celebrate November 15, his birth anniversary as 'Tribal Pride Day.'
Paying his respect to Birsa Munda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, "Like we mark 15th August, 26th January, Gandhi Jayanti and Sardar Patel Jayanti, we shall mark 15th November, the Jayanti of Bhagwan Birsa Munda as Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas. This will be a day to celebrate the glorious tribal culture and contribution to national development."
Here's the tweet:
Birsa belonged to the Munda community in the Chotanagpur plateau region and received his education in Salga under the guidance of his teacher Jaipal Nag. Later, Birsa converted into a Christian to join the German Mission School but soon dropped out after finding out that Britishers were aiming to convert tribals to Christianity through education.
After dropping out of school, Birsa created a faith called 'Birsait'. Members of the Munda and Oraon community soon started joining the faith which in turn became a challenge for the British conversion activities.
At the time, tribals faced a lot of exploitation and oppression from the At that time the policy of exploitation and oppression under the British system, zamindars, jagirdars, moneylenders etc. Wanting to fight the Britishers, Birsa joined the Sardar movement for the land and rights of the tribals in 1894.
Many attacks were carried out by the followers of Birsa Munda on the British in many places that led the British rulers to declare a reward of Rs 500 rupees on Birsa Munda.
It was between 1897 - 1900, there were wars between Mundas and British soldiers. In August 1897, Birsa and 400 of his soldiers armed with arrowheads attacked the Khunti police station. In 1898, the Mundas clashed with the British forces on the banks of the Tanga river, in which the British army was defeated at first, but later, in return, many tribal leaders of that area were arrested.
Birsa was arrested on March 3, 1900, by the British police while sleeping with his tribal guerrilla army in the Jamkopai forest of Chakradharpur. He died in Ranchi Jail on June 9, 1900, at the young age of 25.
Soon after his death, the movement died out but fact remains that he was the one to have mobilized the tribal community against the British and forced the colonial authorities to introduce laws protecting the land rights of the tribals.
