The Uttar Pradesh government in collaboration with Arunachal Pradesh will organise week-long “Janjati Bhagidari Utsav” from November 13 to November 18 to mark the 150th anniversary of tribal activist Birsa Munda, by putting up special exhibitions of tribal textile, art, cuisines, dance and culture from 18 states.
Besides the main programme in Lucknow, special celebrations have also been planned in UP’s Sonbhadra district which will be attended virtually by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 15. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will attend the event.
The celebrations are being organised by the UP Tourism and Social Welfare Department under the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat initiative with Arunachal Pradesh as the partner state.
Birsa Munda hailed from present-day Jharkhand.
“Birsa Munda is worshipped as a divine figure among tribal communities, and to honour his contribution, the Central government declared his birth anniversary as ‘Janajatiya Gaurav Diwas’ in 2022. The festival this time is an initiative to bring the idea of ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’ to life through the cultural unity of our tribal societies,” said UP Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh.
State Social Welfare Minister Aseem Arun said the tribal languages and lifestyle strengthen the foundations of India’s unity and thus the event will not only honour their heritage but also promote their economic self-reliance and cultural preservation.
Atul Dwivedi, director, UP Folk and Tribal Culture Institute, which is coordinating the event, said the six-day festival in Lucknow would see participation of folk artists, craftsmen as well as those presenting tribal cuisines.
The Sonbhadra event would see the participation of about 20,000 tribals from different parts of the country.
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“Apart from creating awareness about the contributions of Birsa Munda, we are planning to put up an exhibition of tribal art, dance, paintings, textile as well as cuisines. If everything goes as planned, the visitors would be able to see a large range of traditional face masks used by tribal communities in different parts of the country,” said Dwivedi.
