Trinamul and the BJP have both drawn up elaborate plans to commemorate the 148th birth anniversary of Birsa Munda, a 19th century freedom fighter revered widely by tribals, as both camps seek to woo the crucial section of the electorate that plays a decisive role in at least six of Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats.

Honouring Birsa's legacy has been used as a poll plank in the state for two years since the saffron camp’s November 2020 gaffe where Union home minister Amit Shah mistook the statue of an anonymous tribal hunter as that of Birsa and garlanded it.

Sources said senior Trinamul leaders have directed district leaders to celebrate the event in north Bengal and Jungle Mahal, where the tribal population is high.

The six Lok Sabha seats in which tribal votes are crucial for victory are Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling in north Bengal, and Jhargram, Purulia and Bankura in the south. Of them, Alipurduar and Jhargram are reserved for tribals.

“We will celebrate Birsa's birth anniversary in each of the 64 tea gardens of Alipurduar district on Tuesday. Cultural events will be held in the gardens till November 30,” said Rajya Sabha member Prakash Chik Baraik, Trinamul’s district unit chief in Alipurduar. The fortnight-long celebration is expected to be a prelude to the ruling party’s poll campaign in the tea belts of north Bengal.

The BJP — which won seven of the eight north Bengal Lok Sabha seats in 2019 — is equally determined to make the most of Birsa's birth anniversary. The party has planned a major event at the Haskhowa tea garden near Bagdogra in Siliguri.

“Besides Raju Bista (the BJP MP of Darjeeling) and Durga Murmu (BJP MLA of Phansidewa), all our party leaders (from the region) will attend the event,” said Arun Mondal, the BJP’s Siliguri organisational district president.

MLA Manoj Tigga, chief of the BJP’s Alipurduar unit, said: “All 24 mandals of our party will mark the day and organise cultural events. Our government has already declared Birsa Munda’s birthday as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas.” Tigga was referring to the Narendra Modi government’s 2021 decision.

In Bengal, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had announced a holiday on Birsa's birthday on November 15 not long after Shah’s faux pas in Bankura. The gaffe by the saffron camp is believed to have helped Trinamul bag substantial tribal votes in 2021 and helped it to defeat the BJP in several tribal-dominated pockets.

Birsa is worshipped as a foremost icon by one and all in the otherwise divergent tribal groups. There are 40 tribal groups such as the Santhal, Munda, Oraon, Kol, Bhil and Bhumij in Bengal and they reside in various pockets of 17 of the state’s districts.

“We call him Bhagwan Birsa Munda. We worship him like our god as he was our saviour from atrocities of the British. Although we have around 40 tribal sections in our state, people from each and every group consider him a real hero of heroes,” said Rabindranath Murmu, state secretary of Bharat Jakat Majhi Pargana Mahal, a major tribal outfit in Bengal.

Bengal will celebrate the occasion in 17 districts with significant tribal population.