“Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi”, the name caught my attention as I landed there in the month of February. Never had I heard this name before.
“Why Birsa Munda airport? Who was Birsa Munda?” I was still caught up in my thoughts, when I met Ramesh, my chaperone from Jharkhand. So as not to look naïve, I started flaunting my residual knowledge from school days, as I had read that this region is mineral rich and therefore the mining belt of India. Among various steel plants.
All airs around me vanished into the thin air as soon as I made the mistake of asking Ramesh about Birsa Munda. Ramesh was highly offended and gave me blasphemous looks. “Madamji! He is not Birsa Munda; but Bhagvan Birsa Munda. He was the saviour of the Munda tribe. During British Raj, it was he who spearheaded the movement, and saved the tribal land from the corrupt zamindars and Britishers, who were into land grabbing practices. He also raised his voice against forcible conversions into Christianity, prevalent at that time, and was instrumental in reviving the traditional tribal culture which got completely lost during British rule.”
