Ranchi
As the Jharkhand Adivasi Mahotsav-2023 began here with much pomp and show for a jam-packed audience on the occasion of World Tribal Day, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Wednesday utilised the opportunity to exhort the “tribals of India to be united to safeguard their basic rights and fight for their existence”.
Since the tribal society is unorganised and divided, he pointed out, destructive forces and religious fanatics were out to oppress them and control their resources. This is the reason why the community’s issues, whether in Manipur or Jharkhand, are unheard, he asserted as he brought in a reference of the troubled northeastern State.
He said the two-day Jharkhand Adivasi Mahotsav-2023 will discuss and analyse all these different issues and aspects currently haunting the tribals based across the country and abroad.
“There should be talks among the tribals to fight the forces that are all out to control their natural resources, identity and culture,” the Jharkhand Chief Minister said addressing the gathering.
He stressed that tribals, who number around 13 crore in India, were doomed to encounter displacements and discriminations even though the mankind belonged to common blood groups and identical religious and cultural identities. Around 80 per cent people displaced due to industries, projects, dams and mines are tribals, but the ‘cruel system’ did not try to find out their whereabouts, healleged.
“The tribals too put up united fights against the ‘opressors’ including the invaders, colonial rulers and moneylenders, but why do they remain ‘sidelined’ in today’s society,” he wondered.
For his part, Hemant’s father and Rajya Sabha MP Shibu Soren called for the tribals to give priority to education. He along with the Chief Minister and other senior officials like Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh and DGP Ajay Singh released 35 books published by the Dr Ram Dayal Munda Tribal Research Institute besides a postal stamp on Jharkhand Adivasi Mahotsav-2023.
The tribal fest will have a congregation of artists, litterateurs, film makers and the likes from different walks of life from various States showcasing the rich and varied indigenous culture, customs and traditions. Preserving and enriching the indigenous culture in their true form and manifestations is their prime concern and commitment.
The fest is being held at Birsa Munda Smriti Udyan or Birsa Munda Memorial Park on the premises of erstwhile Ranchi Central Jail, where tribal legend (Bhagwan) Birsa Munda spent his last few days in captivity while fighting against the colonial rulers.
A laser show will also narrate the ‘role and history’ of this prison even as the colonial rulers went suppressing various rebellions, especially in the tribal hinterlands.
The formal inaugural ceremony ‘began’ with observing a one-minute silence condemning the ethnic violence in Manipur.
