RONO HILLS, 17 Nov: The history department of Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU), in collaboration with the RGU IDE, organised a workshop on freedom fighter Birsa Munda on the latter’s 147th birth anniversary, here on 15 November.
“The main objective of the workshop was to educate the new generations on the sacrifices made by the tribal freedom fighters in India’s struggle for independence, specifically through the context of Birsa Munda’s prominent and inspiring role against the middleman and colonial exploitation and also his huge contribution in the protection of land rights of the tribals,” the university stated in a release.
RGU Vice Chancellor Prof Saket Kushwaha in a message said that “steps are required to include the lived experiences to historical facts of lesser-known tribal heroes in our curriculum from foundation to university levels, so that the younger generations are not just informed or aware but are able to acknowledge, internalise and thereby appreciate the vital contributions of our tribal heroes.”
History HoD Prof Ashan Riddi said that “there are so many unsung tribal heroes who had been excluded in the mainstream history-writing. Today we need to work and search the unsung tribal heroes of Arunachal Pradesh and all over India.”
New Delhi-based Jamia Millia Islamia University’s Sociology Associate Professor Dr Gomati Bodra Hembrom, who herself belongs to the Munda tribe, enlightened the audience with a biographic description of Munda’s ‘Ulgulan’ movement, and reminded the participants of how Munda’s sacrifices changed the British perspective of the tribal people.”
“Birsa Munda took up a new method of guerrilla warfare against British colonialism, and his ‘Ulgulan’ movement was for the tribal land rights. His sacrifices are still used as a symbol against hegemony and discrimination,” Dr Hembrom said.
She also emphasised “the need to search and write about various unsung tribal heroes of Arunachal Pradesh and other parts of India,” and applauded the efforts being made by RGU to “reconstruct the history of the freedom movement and identify and revive the glory of the state’s unsung heroes.”
RGU Registrar Dr NT Rikam also spoke.
