Trinamul and BJP vie to woo tribal voters with Birsa Munda anniversary celebrations
Both parties have planned elaborate programs to mark the 148th anniversary of the birth of Birsa Munda, a tribal hero of the 19th century.
Both Trinamul and the BJP have prepared elaborate programs to mark the 148th anniversary of the birth of Birsa Munda, a tribal hero of the 19th century, in an effort to win over the critical voting bloc that determines at least six of Bengal's 42 Lok Sabha seats.
Since the saffron camp's November 2020 incident, in which Union home minister Amit Shah confused the statue of an unknown tribal hunter for that of Birsa and garlanded it, honoring Birsa's memory has been utilized as a campaign plank in the state for the last two years.
Senior Trinamul officials reportedly gave district leaders instructions to mark the day in Jungle Mahal and north Bengal, areas with sizable tribal populations.
The six Lok Sabha seats that depend on tribal votes for success are Jhargram, Purulia, Bankura, and Alipurduar in the south, and Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, and Darjeeling in the north. Jhargram and Alipurduar are off limits to non-tribal people.
On Tuesday, we will commemorate Birsa's birth anniversary at each of the district's 64 tea gardens in Alipurduar. Up to November 30, there will be cultural activities in the gardens, according to Prakash Chik Baraik, a member of the Rajya Sabha and the district unit president of Trinamul in Alipurduar. The event, which will last for two weeks, is anticipated to serve as a warm-up for the governing party's election campaign in north Bengal's tea regions.
The BJP, which won seven out of the eight Lok Sabha seats in north Bengal in 2019, is similarly committed to capitalizing on Birsa's birthday. At the Haskhowa tea estate in Siliguri, close to Bagdogra, the party has organized a significant celebration.
According to Arun Mondal, the BJP's Siliguri organizational district president, "all our party officials (from the area) would attend the ceremony, save from Raju Bista (the BJP MP of Darjeeling) and Durga Murmu (BJP MLA of Phansidewa).
The head of the BJP's Alipurduar unit, MLA Manoj Tigga, declared: "All 24 mandals of our party will mark the day and organise cultural events." Birsa Munda's birthday has already been designated as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas by our government. Tigga was alluding to the 2021 decision made by the Narendra Modi administration.
Shortly after Shah's gaffe in Bankura, chief minister of Bengal Mamata Banerjee declared a holiday on November 15, Birsa's birthday. It is said that the saffron camp's mistake assisted Trinamul in garnering significant tribal votes in 2021 and in defeating the BJP in a number of areas where the tribal population predominates.
All of the otherwise disparate tribal groupings revere Birsa as a primary figure. Bengal is home to 40 distinct tribal communities, including the Santhal, Munda, Oraon, Kol, Bhil, and Bhumij, who are dispersed among 17 different districts.
He goes by the name Bhagwan Birsa Munda. We revere him as a deity because he saved us from the horrors committed by the British. People from every tribe in our state—roughly forty—consider him a true hero of heroes, according to Rabindranath Murmu, state secretary of Bharat Jakat Majhi Pargana Mahal, one of the largest tribal organizations in Bengal.
Bengal will commemorate the event in 17 districts where a sizable tribal population resides.
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