Political leaders cutting across party lines on Sunday observed Hul Diwas to commemorate the 1855 uprising of tribals against colonial rule and landlords.

Hul Diwas is observed in memory of tribal brothers Sido and Kanhu, and leaders such as Chand and Bhairav besides Phulo and Jhano who had led the campaign against colonial rule and cruel zamindars.

Governor Droupadi Murmu attended a programme in Dumka organised by Sido Kanhu Murmu University where she laid the foundation stones of the canteen and administrative block.

Senior BJP leader and Union minister of tribal affairs Arjun Munda paid floral tributes to Sido and Kanhu at the park in the city capital named after the duo, along with state urban development minister CP Singh, Ram Kumar Pahan and Jitu Charan Ram (BJP MLAs from Khijri and Kanke respectively), and the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Samir Oraon.

Later, Munda and others heard the broadcast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann Ki Baat radio programme, in which Modi played the message on water conservation from a sarpanch of a village in Hazaribagh’s Katkamsandi block.

Leaders and workers of different political parties thronged the park through the day. JMM leaders and workers led by former chairperson of the state women’s commission Mahua Maji, central general secretary cum spokesperson of the party Vinod Pandey and senior leader Antu Tirkey visited the park to offer floral tributes to the statues of Sido and Kanhu. Ajsu Party workers were also seen paying tributes to the duo at the park.

Former chief minister and JMM working president Hemant Soren was at Bhognadih village in Sahebganj district, the birthplace of Sido and Kanhu, to pay tributes to the tribal leaders.

The JMM, which has been observing Hul Diwas for the past four decades, held a massive road rally that was attended by Soren, the party’s Rajmahal MP Vijay Hansda and other party leaders and workers.

Soren, who shared a picture of the event on his Twitter account, said that it is time for another Hul, another struggle to reclaim the pride of Jharkhand.

In Dumka, JMM president and former local MP Shibu Soren along with state social welfare minister Louise Marandi, Dumka MP Sunil Soren participated in the Hul Diwas programme.