Ranchi: Once completely obliterated, the legacy of the legendary Jaipal Singh Munda seems to be making a comeback in Jharkhand, the state the visionary leader dreamt of and waged a long-drawn movement for from 1939 until his death in 1970.
For some strange reason, political parties over the years have forgotten the contributions of the hockey legend, visionary tribal leader, educationist and member of the Constituent Assembly, whom the tribal people of his time fondly called Marang Gomke (Supreme Leader) because of his role in giving them a voice and an identity in the country.
On September 23, the Hemant Soren government awarded six tribal students the newly instituted scholarship for higher education in the United Kingdom, christened after Jaipal Singh, who was the first among adivasis from India to study abroad. The Soren government instituted the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda Overseas Scholarship on December 28 last year to provide scholarships to 10 tribal students in order to fund their post-graduation studies in UK varsities.
Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda. Photo: Twitter/@chemistryforiit
“This scholarship will definitely revive the legacy of Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda. As for me, I would be representing Jharkhand life and culture among the international community apart from carrying forward the brilliant legacy of Marang Gomke,” says Hercules Singh Munda, who will be pursuing his MA in linguistics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Hailing from Sarlong, a nondescript village in the Tamar block of Ranchi, Hercules studied BTech (Computer Science) from BIT Mesra, Ranchi.
Hercules is one among the six students who form the first batch of the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda Overseas Scholarship to study in the UK. The other five are Ajitesh Murmu, Akansha Mary, Dinesh Bhagat, Anjana Pratima Dungdung and Priya Murmu.
While Ajitesh Murmu will be pursuing an MA in architecture from University College of London, Akansha Mary will be doing MSc in climate change and management from Loughborough University and Dinesh Bhagat will be doing an MSc in climate change, development and policy from the University of Sussex. Anjana Pratima Dungdung will be doing an MSc from the University of Warwick, Priya Murmu will be pursuing an MA in creative writing and the writing industry from the University of Loughborough University.
Six student recipients of Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda overseas scholarship with chief minister Hemant Soren and senior officials. Photo: Special arrangement.
Chief minister Soren, at a programme on September 23, hoped that the scholarship will not just truly honour the contributions of the legendary leader, but also form a new band of tribal young people who will have received higher education from the top varsities of the world.
Though many other states of India, including Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and northeast states have large tribal populations, they are yet to give a thought to giving overseas scholarships to their tribal youths.
The Government of India’s Ministry of Tribal Affairs provides overseas scholarships for tribal students, but there have been complaints that they only go to the politically connected.
Rich legacy obliterated
During the time of a united Bihar, political parties and successive governments neglected Jaipal Singh to the point that people completely forgot his name. Even his home city, Ranchi, had just a small stadium in his name, which too was in ruins. After Jharkhand state that Jaipal Singh dreamt and fought for was formed, successive governments here in Jharkhand in the last 20 years, as well as the Government of India, did not give him his due place. Today too, the mega sports complex in Ranchi is the only venue named after him. School history books write him off only as a hockey player, side by side with recent international hockey players.
“I hope this gesture by the state government plays an important role in reviving the legacy of Jaipal Singh,” says Dr Ashish Lakra, a retired medical doctor who spends his days educating the youth about Jaipal Singh through Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda Memorial Trust that he presides over.
On November 18-19, 2018, Dr Lakra and a few others organised a programme in Ranchi to mark 100 years of Jaipal Singh’s departure to England. The then BJP government, as well as the people of the state, did not understand the importance of the milestone year, though present chief minister Hemant Soren (then an opposition leader), former chief minister Babulal Marandi, Union minister Arjun Munda and former Union minister Subodh Kant Sahay graced the occasion.
Also read: Jharkhand: Scholarship Named After Jaipal Singh Munda Gets Its First Six Beneficiaries
Soren had promised to revive the legacy of Jaipal Singh, and though his government has instituted the overseas scholarship, the pace of his efforts towards the goal is slow. Marandi, now the leader of the BJP legislative party in the assembly, had promised to fund the research and publication of a book on the works of Jaipal Singh during his education in England.
“I had invited the students who have been awarded the scholarship to visit Takra, our ancestral village. Four of the six turned up and spent time with the villagers,” says Jayant Jaipal, son of Jaipal Singh.
The scholarship in the name of Jaipal Singh has motivated social groups to learn about Jaipal Singh’s village. The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha, a platform of organisations engaged in defending civil rights, is holding a three-day conference in Takra beginning on October 1. One point in the agenda of the conference is how to promote the legacy of Jaipal Singh and educate the present generation about the legendary leader.
After doing his primary education in St Paul’s School, Ranchi, Jaipal Singh (1903-1970), a multifaceted personality, went to England in December 1918 along with the then principal of his school Canon Consgrave. Cosgrave, who had given all his fortunes to St Paul’s School, had been transferred back to England due to his age. On his way back, he decided to take young Jaipal along to England. After completing his schooling in England, Jaipal in 1922 had joined St. John’s College of Oxford University to study Economics, Philosophy and Political Science. He then joined Oxford University to do his MA (Economics).
“He had also submitted his doctoral thesis on the topic ‘Economy of Sports’ to Oxford University,” says Ranendra (who goes by his first name only), an IAS officer, noted author and director of the Tribal Research Institute (TRI) of the Government of Jharkhand.
Jaipal sat for the ICS (Indian Civil Service) exams and was selected for the elite civil service. It was when he was training at Oxford for his ICS that he got an offer to lead the Indian Field Hockey Team in 1928 Summer Olympics of Amsterdam. He sought leave from ICS training, but when he was denied, he decided to defy the authorities and went to Amsterdam to play hockey. Under his captaincy, India won its first gold in the Olympics, but he resigned from the ICS after he was asked to repeat the term.
Jaipal then took up jobs with educational institutions in Ghana and India. He was the first Indian to serve as the principal of Rajkumar College, Raipur, grooming the princess of India in economics and foreign policy. Later, he also served as the revenue and foreign minister of the rich Bikaner princely state before finally deciding to come back to his homeland Chhotanagpur.
After coming back to Chhotanagpur, he organised the tribes of the region under the Adivasi Mahasabha as its president. Contesting the elections, he reached the Constituent Assembly of India and became the voice of tribes of India. Though a lone tribal voice in the Constituent Assembly, Jaipal’s arguments earned special provisions for tribes of India in the Fifth Schedule and Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
Jaipal Singh is also the pioneer of the statehood movement of Jharkhand, a movement he fought for under the banner Adivasi Mahasabha, and later under the Jharkhand Party.
“The legacy of Jaipal Singh ought to be revived. This scholarship is just one programme, more such programmes need to be there,” says Shailendra Mahto, a statehood movement veteran, whose book on the Jharkhand movement focusing on the life and works of Jaipal Singh is expected to be released soon.
Santosh K. Kiro is an independent journalist based in Ranchi.
