On Friday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee celebrated the 150th birth anniversary of Bhagwan Birsa Munda at an event organized by the state's tribal development department at the Adivasi Bhawan in Rajarhat, Kolkata.
Representatives of the Santal community and other tribal groups, including those from the hills of North Bengal, participated in the event. It was also attended by Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, Home Secretary Nandini Chakraborty, ministers Birbaha Hansda, Firhad Hakim, and others.
CM Banerjee started the event by paying floral tributes to Birsa Munda, the revered freedom fighter who had spearheaded a tribal revolt against British rule in the late 19th century in the Chhota Nagpur plateau region.
During the celebration, CM Banerjee honored eminent personalities and achievers from West Bengal's tribal communities. She also announced that the state is celebrating the day as ‘Birsa Munda Day’ and that celebrations would continue in all districts for the next seven days.
“Birsa Munda fought against the British because he believed forest should belong to tribals. We have also accepted that and passed legislation to keep forest with tribals,” the chief minister said.
Hansda, a former Santali actor and the West Bengal Minister for Self-Help Groups and Self-Employment, expressed gratitude to Chief Minister Banerjee for her government’s efforts in uplifting tribal communities and develop tribal regions of the state.
“Like Mamata Banerjee holds us dear and keep us close to her heart, we will also keep her close to us,” she said.
Interestingly, amid the ongoing Jharkhand assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo briefly touched on the issue of the Sari and Sarna belief systems. While she didn’t delve into details, she fleetingly mentioned that they should be recognised as religions.
Tribal groups practicing these faiths, mostly in Jharkhand and West Bengal’s Purulia, Jhargram, Birbhum and Bankura, want their codification like India’s six other major religions.
Earlier in 2023, the TMC had tabled a motion in the West Bengal assembly, seeking recognition of Sari and Sarna as religions.
Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and his party, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), has also demanded to the central government for long that the Sarna belief system be codified. This demand was also incorporated into the party's manifesto for the ongoing assembly elections.
