Prime Minister Modi’s gift on Birsa Munda’s birth anniversary
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the National Tribal Pride Day celebrations in Jamui, Bihar on November 15, during which the Prime Minister will also virtually inaugurate two Museums of Madhya Pradesh Tribal Freedom Fighters. The Prime Minister will dedicate the Badal Bhoi Tribal Freedom Fighters Museum of Chhindwara and the Raja Shankar Shah and Raghunath Shah Freedom Fighters Museum of Jabalpur to the nation.
Badal Bhoi Tribal Freedom Fighters Museum, Chhindwara
The Badal Bhoi Tribal Freedom Fighters Museum building, located in Chhindwara city, was constructed by the Public Works Department at a cost of Rs 40 crore and 69 lakh. The healing work here has been done by Vanya Sansthan under the Department of Tribal Affairs. It has been built on the available land of the old Tribal Museum. This place is situated on Pench-Pachmarhi road. There are many picturesque and important places related to the tribal freedom struggle around the museum.
In addition to 6 galleries, a workshop room and a library, there is also sufficient office space in this museum building. Apart from this, an open-air theatre, a craft market (Shilpgram) and a tribal cafe with seating capacity of 800 have also been built here. The old Tribal Museum located in the same premises has also been renovated, which houses various exhibitions related to tribal culture.
Live performances of 9 major tribal freedom fighters and 16 tribal freedom fighters of the state have been staged in this museum. The first gallery is dedicated to Rani Durgavati, showing the life of Rani Durgavati, her rule and her fight against outside invaders. The struggle carried out by the Gond kings against the takeover of the Gond states by the British government during the British rule has been depicted in Gallery-2.
The Indian Forest Act was implemented by the British government in the year 1927, against which the struggle carried out by the tribal community is shown in Gallery-3 as “Jungle Satyagraha”. The fourth gallery represents the fight of the Bhil-Bhilala tribe, very skilled in guerrilla warfare, against the British government. The struggle of heroes like Bhima Nayak, Khajya Nayak and Tantya Bhil is depicted in this gallery. Galleries 5 and 6 have been reserved from time to time for painting and photography exhibitions.
Raja Shankar Shah and Raghunath Shah Freedom Fighters Museum, Jabalpur
In honor of Raja Shankar Shah and Kunwar Raghunath Shah, symbols of unique bravery and indomitable courage, a museum was built in the year 2021 in Jabalpur with the cooperation of the state government and the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs. It has been named Raja Shankar Shah and Raghunath Shah Freedom Fighters Museum. In this museum built on one acre of land, the restoration and conservation work of the museum building was carried out by the Indian Cultural Trust (INTACH, New Delhi) at a cost of Rs 14 crore 26 lakh.
This museum complex has historical importance because it was here that Raja Shankar Shah and Kunwar Raghunath Shah were imprisoned for four days before their sacrifice. This historically significant building has been restored to its original form using traditional conservation methods so that this place, which symbolizes the sacrifice of Raja Shankar Shah and Kunwar Raghunath Shah, remains a permanent source of inspiration and pride for future generations. .
The Gond tribal culture is displayed in the first gallery of the museum. The second gallery is dedicated to the sacrifice of the tribal freedom fighters of Madhya Pradesh who participated in the freedom struggle of 1857. The third gallery has been shown as the court room of Raja Shankarshah, in which through a film the story of sacrifice of Raja Shankarshah and Kunwar Raghunath Shah.
After the sacrifice of the king and Kunwar, the rebellion of their queens and the 52nd Regiment is shown in the gallery below. In the last gallery, tribute has been paid to Raja and Kunwar through a 3-D hologram. Their statues were also installed in the jail building where Raja and Kunwar were imprisoned. The people of the tribal community consider this place sacred and come here regularly to pay homage.
