Ranchi: On Saturday, Jharkhand will turn 25. But its journey to statehood dates back over a century, depicting a tale of resilience and a relentless pursuit of autonomy and cultural identity under the Constituency. Now, as the state prepares to celebrate its silver jubilee, the echoes of its tumultuous journey — marked by blood, sweat, and an unyielding quest for identity — reverberate across its hills and valleys.The movement wasn’t just a political struggle but a fight for recognition and self-determination for its indigenous people, during which many laid down their lives.While different indigenous groups kept waging war for autonomy, the year 1915 marked a new phase of the statehood movement.“This was the time when educated Christian tribals came together and formed the Chhotanagpur Unnati Samaj (CUS) to press for autonomy or a separate region,” remarked Sanjay Basu Mallick, who was part of the statehood movement since the 1980s.He recalled that a CUS delegation submitted a memorandum for a separate region to the Simon Commission in 1928, but the ongoing statehood fight by different groups took the first formal shape only in 1938.“Here, various groups of Adivasis and other indigenous people fighting separately came together for the first time to form the Adivasi Mahasabha, and Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda, who was a prolific hockey player and tribal statesman who returned from London, led the movement,” Basu said.According to Santosh Kiro, an academician and author of books on Jaipal Singh Munda, the statehood movement had a mix of twists and turns, with both violent and satyagraha stints giving rise to several leaders who spearheaded the movement in different phases.“Around 1938-39, the Adivasi Mahasabha had its first major meeting where scores of tribals congregated at Ranchi’s Hindpiri area to make a move in a more organised manner,” remarked Kiro, highlighting that later, the movement took a political shape.According to Basu, this later led to the formation of the Jharkhand Party in the 1949-50 period, which continued the statehood battle through electoral politics.“Even though the Jharkhand Party kept winning a considerable number of seats in elections, the demand for a separate state failed to yield results,” Basu said.In 1955, the Jharkhand Party submitted a memorandum to the States Reorganisation Commission with their demand, but suffered a setback.“Somewhere in 1963, after facing rejections, the Jharkhand Party led by Jaipal Singh merged with Congress, which led to many breakaway factions that weren’t ready for the merger. They, however, continued their fight during which leaders like Annie Horo played a key role in reviving the movement,” Kiro said.Simultaneously, in the early 1970s, activists like Binod Bihari Mahato, A K Roy and Shibu Soren, who were fighting separately for the cause of their people, came together to form Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which went on to reinforce new blood and vigour in the movement.“From here, Shibu, who was till then only fighting against Mahajani pratha (landlords) rose to prominence and soon went on to become one of the central figures for the statehood movement. The birth of All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), considered the youth wing of JMM took place successively, which was patterned on the line of militant groups in Manipur that waged many violent wars to force the Union govt to take note of a separate state,” Kiro said.Amid the spree of violent and political attempts all throughout the movement, there was also a separate crusade for cultural awakening led by the late Ramdayal Munda. “In the 1980s, Ramdayal Munda and several other like-minded artists and intellectuals came together to form the Jharkhand Coordination Committee. Until now, the statehood fight, which was only confined within the sphere of electoral politics, also took shape as a fight for safeguarding cultural identity and against the economic repression of tribals and marginalised among others,” Basu said.In successive years, the sustained efforts finally forced the Centre to take note of the demand, paving the way for the formation of Jharkhand on Nov 15, 2000, by then govt of the late PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.Two other states — Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand — came into existence during the same period, but Jharkhand failed to take off the way its other “cousins” did due to a myriad of woes. Policy paralysis, coupled with unstable govts till 2014, derailed its progress. It was only in 2014 that the state got its first stable govt.Speaking to the media earlier this week, chief minister Hemant Soren said his govt is committed to taking the state to newer heights and appealed to the youths to step forward to collectively help build ‘Hamar Sona Jharkhand’.“The time has come for all of us to build a state filled with potential and opportunities. While the govt is committed to working towards it, I appeal to youngsters to step forward. You are talented, dedicated, creative and educated, too. You should help the state make ‘Hamar Shona Jharkhand’,” Hemant added.
