Jaipal Singh Munda was a man of many talents. Along with higher education in England, he also developed an interest in hockey. In the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games, he captained the British Indian hockey team. Under his captaincy, the team won the gold medal.
In the same year, 1928, he passed the Indian Civil Service examination, becoming the first Indian tribal to do so. He was also quite successful in politics. He formed the Jharkhand Party, which in its very first election saw 4 MPs and 32 MLAs elected in Bihar.
The stature that Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar holds in the Dalit community, if accepted with an open mind instead of controversy, is the same stature that Jaipal Singh Munda holds in the tribal community. Just as Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar studied at the world’s best universities and came forward to fight for the rights of the underprivileged, Jaipal Singh Munda’s life is more or less a similar example. A major contribution to the facilities that the tribal community enjoys in the country today is due to the tribal leader Jaipal Singh Munda. This is why the grateful tribals respectfully bestow upon him the title of ‘Marang Gomke’.
Jaipal Singh Munda was born on January 3, 1903, in Takra Pahantoli, Khunti district, about 18 kilometers south of Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand (formerly Bihar before 2000). His father’s name was Amru Pahan and his mother’s name was Radhamani. However, Jaipal Singh Munda’s initial name was Pramod Pahan. Jaipal Singh himself wrote in his autobiography: “I don’t know who changed my name and when. It was January 3, 1911, the day my name must have been changed. I must have been 8-10 years old then. My family members called me Pramod, and that was my name until January 3rd. But, on January 3, 1911, when I, holding my father Amru Pahan’s finger, hesitantly arrived at St. Paul’s School in Ranchi, not only was my date of birth changed, but my name was changed as well.”
He received his early education at this same St. Paul’s School in Ranchi. The principal there had a special affection for Jaipal Munda. The reason was his sharp intellect. This is why the principal sent Jaipal Munda to England for further education. There he graduated from St. John’s College, Oxford, and also earned an M.A. in Economics. He also became a gold medalist in Economics.
Jaipal Singh Munda was a man of many talents. Along with higher education in England, he also developed an interest in hockey. He achieved great success in it. In the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games, he captained the British Indian hockey team. Under his captaincy, the team won the gold medal. In 1928, he also passed the Indian Civil Service examination, becoming the first Indian tribal to do so. But during this time, he had to go to the Olympics, due to which he could not complete his training and had to leave the Indian Civil Service midway. In 1934, he served as the principal of a college in Gold Coast (Africa), now Ghana. In 1936, he was also the Foreign Minister of the Bikaner princely state. After that, in 1937, he was the principal of Ramkumar College, Raipur.
During this time, he began to think about uplifting his tribal community from backwardness. Amidst all the turmoil, a major change came into his life, and leaving everything behind, he dedicated his life to the upliftment of the tribal community. For this purpose, in 1938, he formed the Adivasi Mahasabha in Bihar (Jharkhand had not yet been created). Its main objective was to integrate the tribal communities into the mainstream. To achieve this, Jaipal Singh Munda first raised the demand for a separate state before the British government, requesting the creation of a Jharkhand state by combining parts of Bihar, Bengal, and the Central Provinces. He continuously struggled for this demand. He believed that creating a separate state for the tribal community would quickly improve their lives.
In the 1946 elections to the Constituent Assembly, Jaipal Singh Munda was also elected as a member. What Dr. Ambedkar did for the Dalits by securing their rights in the Constitution, Jaipal Singh Munda did for the tribals. In his very first speech as a member of the Constituent Assembly, he clearly stated: “I stand here to speak on behalf of millions of people, who are the most important people, who are the unsung fighters for freedom, who are the original inhabitants of India, and who are called Backward Tribes, Primitive Tribes, Criminal Tribes, and what not. But I am proud of being a tribal.”
He repeatedly opposed the use of the term “Scheduled Tribes” by the Constitution Committee. He wanted the word “Adivasi” to be used in the Constitution.
Keeping the interests of the tribals in mind, Dr. Ambedkar included the Fifth Schedule in the Constitution of India, which included the rights and privileges of the tribals. Thus, through the joint efforts of Dr. Ambedkar and Jaipal Singh Munda, 7.5 percent of the seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies were reserved for tribals, along with reservations in education and jobs. In this way, the tribals received special rights in the Constitution.
Jaipal Singh Munda founded the Adivasi Labour Federation in 1948. However, to secure political participation for the tribal people, he transformed the All India Adivasi Sabha into the ‘Jharkhand Party’ on January 1, 1950. The Jharkhand Party achieved great success in its very first election, creating a sensation. Four MPs and 32 MLAs were elected from Bihar on the Jharkhand Party ticket. A similar performance was seen in the 1957 elections, where 34 MLAs and 5 MPs were elected. However, there was a decline in the 1962 elections, with only 22 MLAs and 5 MPs elected. After the elections, there was turmoil within the party, which led Jaipal Munda to merge it with the Congress Party in 1963, on the condition that the Congress Party would create a separate Jharkhand state after the merger. Following this, Jaipal Singh Munda became the first tribal Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar and also served as the Minister of Community Development.
But just as the Congress Party had betrayed Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar, they also betrayed Jaipal Munda and did not fulfill their promise of creating a separate Jharkhand state. Angered by the Congress’s broken promise, Jaipal Munda resigned from his post after only a month. In 1967, Jaipal Singh Munda was elected as an MP again. After this, his estrangement from the Congress continued to grow.
On March 13, 1970, Jaipal Singh Munda acknowledged that “the Congress betrayed us, and the merger of the Jharkhand Party was the biggest mistake. I will return to the Jharkhand Party and agitate for a separate Jharkhand state.” But just a week after this declaration, Jaipal Singh Munda passed away in Delhi on March 20, 1970.
Today, many people criticize Jaipal Munda for joining the Congress. It is said that he made a huge mistake by merging his party with the Congress. However, it is important to understand the circumstances that compelled him to do so. In the 1957 elections, Jaipal Singh’s Jharkhand Party won 34 seats, a feat that remains unimaginable for any Jharkhandi party even today. However, in the 1962 elections, their number decreased to 22, and the number of MPs also dropped from five to four. Of these 22 MLAs, 12 were bought off by the Congress. This shows that the tactics employed by the Manuvadi (casteist) parties today are nothing new. It was in these moments of despair that he trusted Nehru’s promises and merged his party with the Congress. However, these promises began to be disregarded even during Nehru’s lifetime. After suffering crushing defeats in the 1952 and 1957 elections, the Congress began to employ its cunning tactics and did everything that the BJP is seen doing today. Most of the 12 MLAs whom the Congress lured away were non-tribals from Jharkhand. This was Nehru’s betrayal of promises, so how fair is it to blame Jaipal Munda?
Jaipal Munda was a great educationist, a brilliant hockey player, a warrior for social revolution, and a successful politician. He was a person who is counted among the greatest hockey players. He rose from a small tribal village to become a gold medalist in economics from Oxford. The man who challenged the popularity of the Congress, sweeping them away by winning 34 seats in the 1952 and 1957 assembly elections, and who, as a member of the Constituent Assembly, was no less eloquent than Ambedkar or any other leader, should be a source of pride for the entire country, including the tribal community.
By Ashok Das
Ashok Das (Ashok Kumar) is a renowned journalist in India who focuses on journalism centered around the Dalit-tribal community. He is the founder and editor of the ‘Dalit Dastak Media Institute’. His journalism has been appreciated in countries like the USA, Canada, Sweden, and Dubai, in addition to India. He has also traveled to these countries. Ashok Das’s journalism has been featured in numerous newspapers and magazines in India and abroad, including media outlets such as DW (Germany), The Asahi Shimbun (Japan), The Mainichi Newspaper (Japan), The Week magazine (India), and Hindustan Times (India).
Courtesy: Hindi News