Page 64 - Mann Ki Baat, October 2022

TRIBAL FREEDOM FIGHTER MUSEUM
CELEBRATING THE GLORIOUS TRIBAL HISTORY & CULTURE
My dear countrymen,
th
on the 15 of November, our
country will celebrate the
Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas. Last
year on the occasion of the
birth anniversary of Bhagwan
Birsa Munda, I had the privilege
of inaugurating the Bhagwan
Birsa Munda Museum in Ranchi.
I would like to urge the youth
that whenever they get time,
they must visit it.
-Prime Minister Narendra Modi
(in his ‘Mann ki Baat’ address)
An unbiased observer can
easily note that when the
Prime Minister discusses
another key central element
of his basic approach to
managing the affairs of the
country, that is ‘Sabka Saath
Sabka Vikas’ the tribals are
an important part of this
overall scheme.
-Prof. Raghuvendra Tanwar
Chairman, Indian Council of
Historical Research
60
60
Prime Minister also inaugurated
India is celebrating
‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to
commemorate 75 years of its
Independence and the glorious
history of its people, culture, and
achievements. The fight against
colonial rule in India constitutes a
unique narrative which is replete
with variegated stories of valour,
bravery, dedication, and sacrifice
across the length and breadth
of the subcontinent. If we look
at that period of our freedom
struggle, there was hardly any
moment when there was no
tribal resistance in different parts
of the country. Be it the Munda
movement under the leadership
of Birsa Munda, or the Santhal
struggle, the Khasi and the Ahom
resistances in the Northeast or the
Bhil struggle, the tribal sons and
daughters of India challenged the
British rule in every period.
In the ongoing ‘Amrit
Mahotsav’, the country is reviving
countless such pages of history,
which were forgotten in the past
decades. One of the prime focuses
of the Government has been
to bring alive stories of unsung
heroes whose sacrifices have
made freedom a reality for us.
With the idea of bringing forth
such stories, the Government
declared 15 th November as
‘Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas’ to
th
commemorate the 146 birth
anniversary of Birsa Munda in
2021. To mark the occasion, the
Bhagwan Birsa Munda Memorial
Udyan cum Freedom Fighter
Museum at Ranchi in Jharkhand.
At the inauguration, he said, “In
this Amrit Kaal of Independence,
the country has decided that it
will give a more meaningful and
a more grand identity to the tribal
traditions of India and its valour
stories.” There are statues of many
tribal heroes, including Sidhu-
Kanhu, Poto Ho, Telanga Kharia,
Gaya Munda, Jatra Tana Bhagat
and Diva-Kisun in this museum
and their stories have also been
explained in detail.
The inauguration of the
Tribal Freedom Fighter Museum
in Ranchi was just the beginning.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs
is developing 10 more such
museums (in Gujarat, Andhra
Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala,
Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, land, eviction from their land,
Manipur, Mizoram and Goa), annulment of the traditional legal
dedicated to the contributions and social rights and customs,
of the tribal people in India to enhancement of rent, and
the freedom struggle, across the feudal and semi-feudal form of
country. These museums will trace ownership. Birsa Munda fought
their history along the trails along bravely against the exploitation
which the tribal people in hills and of the British colonial system and
forests fought for their right to live spearheaded movement against
and will. They will also preserve British oppression giving a call
and promote songs, music, art-
for ‘Ulgulan’ (Revolution). Often
skills, handicrafts and crafts referred to as ‘Dharti Aaba’, he
passed down from generation was against the ideology that
to generation. These museums wanted to erase the identity of
will also demonstrate the way India’s tribal society. He knew that
tribal people in the present time attacking diversity in the name
act as the custodians of the of modernity, tampering with
biological and cultural diversity ancient identity and nature was
of the country and have helped
not the way for the welfare of the
in nation-building in their own society, and thus encouraged the
unique way. tribals to understand their cultural
The battle that the tribes roots and importance of unity.
were fighting was primarily What Birsa Munda had started
against their exploitation in the resulted in the introduction of
form of encroachment on their laws to preserve the land rights
61 61