Birsa Munda, the tribal icon with whom Jharkhand identifies itself, looks like the latest choice of political parties for engaging in tirades.

It all began when on November 10 the Union government, following a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, announced that November 15, Birsa’s birthday, would be celebrated as Rashtriya Janjatiya Gaurav Divas, a day meant for remembering tribal glory every year. The state unit of the BJP promptly hailed the decision.

This November 15 is Birsa’s 146th birth anniversary.

“The decision of observing Birsa Jayanti as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas will help people across the country know about the struggles and sacrifices made by the tribal leaders,” state BJP Scheduled Tribes Morcha president Shib Shankar Oraon said, echoing the Union government’s statement on the issue.

This decision will be particularly helpful because most of the people living outside Jharkhand were not aware about the glorious history of the tribals of the state, he added.

Supriyo Bhattacharya, the general secretary of the major constituent of the ruling combine Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, however, dismissed the Centre’s announcement as a gimmick.

“Janjatiya gaurav (tribal pride) would be actually honoured if the provisions of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution and the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Area) Act 1996 meant for ensuring self governance of the tribals living in scheduled areas through their traditional gram sabhas were implemented in their totality,” he said.

The Modi government was just doing a lip service to the tribals as it did not provide a column in the census for registering the tribal religion, Sarna, he alleged and added that it did not give scheduled tribes status to the tea tribes of Assam who had once migrated from Jharkhand.

“If the BJP was actually interested, it wouldn’t have taken seven years to announce this,” said Congress state spokesperson Satish Pal Munjani.

A section of political observers, however, interpreted this decision in a different way.

“This move is an attempt by the BJP to woo tribal voters who did not patronise the party as it had expected in the last Assembly election two years ago,” said one of them.

In the 2019 election, the BJP could win only two of the total 28 seats (of the 81-seat state Assembly) that are reserved for the candidates belonging to the scheduled tribes.

“It’s known to all that all political parties, irrespective of their hues, try to exploit iconic figures politically and Birsa Munda is no exception,” said a witty scribe, adding it, however, made no difference to Birsa as “the static eyes of his statues and photos don’t even blink once after hearing that his birthday would now be celebrated as janjatiya gaurav divas”.