Opinion Remembering the promise of Jharkhand at 25
Jharkhand’s 25 years of statehood should be more than a ceremonial moment and call for reflection. The state must recall its leaders not as distant icons but as voices of an unfinished struggle, and return to the movement’s core promise of a Jharkhand where its people can live with dignity, justice, and equality.
Shibu Soren’s JMM shifted the statehood movement’s geography, imagination. (Archive) 
On November 15, 2025, Jharkhand stepped into its silver jubilee year. The Morabadi ground in Ranchi held a grand celebration, made even more symbolic because this year marked the 150th birth anniversary of Birsa Munda, the most iconic figure of Adivasi resistance in the subcontinent. Yet, anniversaries, particularly those staged with spectacle, often risk obscuring the deeper histories that made them possible. As the state celebrates, it must also pause. Jharkhand’s foundation day is not merely an occasion of pride. It is a moment of remembrance and reflection, a reminder of promises made and promises still deferred.
The Jharkhand movement’s arc stretches far beyond the territorial reorganisation of the year 2000. Scholars often locate its origins in centuries of Adivasi mobilisations against the diku, a term used locally for exploitative outsiders. But it was the formation of the Adivasi Mahasabha in 1938, and its transformation under the charismatic leadership of Jaipal Singh Munda, that gave the movement a recognisable political centre. He articulated a demand for autonomy that sought not separatism, but protection from predatory external forces and dignity for people long pushed to the margins.
After Independence, the Adivasi Mahasabha became the Jharkhand Party in 1950. This transition broadened the constituency by bringing together Adivasis and non-tribal natives who shared cultural affinities and a history of common exploitation. The party’s strong performance in the 1951 and 1957 general elections testified to the legitimacy of the demand. Yet, in 1956, the State Reorganisation Commission rejected the proposal for a separate Jharkhand because it did not fulfil the linguistic criterion. This fractured the movement, culminating in Singh’s merger with the Congress in 1963.
A new chapter began in 1973 with the formation of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) led by Shibu Soren along with communist leader A K Roy and Kudmi leader Binod Bihari Mahto. JMM shifted the movement’s geography and imagination. The political epicentre moved from the Adivasi heartlands of Chotanagpur and Santhal Pargana to the industrial belts of Jamshedpur, Bokaro and Dhanbad. Here, Adivasi identity intertwined with the struggles of mine workers and industrial labourers. JMM infused the movement with a class dimension, widening its social base and grounding the Jharkhand question, not only in cultural rights but also in economic exploitation.
This momentum intensified with the formation of the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) in 1986 under Nirmal Mahto, partly modelled on the All Assam Students Union. AJSU’s assertive politics revitalised the movement and brought a new generation into its fold, giving it organisational strength and youthful energy. Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party also began extending conditional support, although it reframed the demand as Vananchal rather than Jharkhand. This reflected its ideological position that Adivasis are essentially vanvasis, forest dwelling Hindus. The relabelling was widely resisted and underscored the distinctiveness of the Jharkhand movement. It was rooted in regional identity with an Adivasi core but capacious enough to include other marginalised groups. It resembled a Bahujan imagination rather than exclusionary sons of the soil politics. The movement combined recognition, redistribution and representation, seeking not just a state but a social transformation.
After nearly 75 years of struggle and sacrifice, Jharkhand was finally carved out on November 15, 2000. That this occurred on Birsa Munda’s birth anniversary gave the achievement a moral and historical resonance. Yet, 25 years later, the emancipatory vision that animated the movement remains only partially realised.
Jharkhand has made undeniable progress in infrastructure, poverty reduction, education and healthcare, yet the deeper structural challenges remain stark. Development-induced displacement continues to unsettle Adivasi communities, outmigration has reached troubling levels, and social tensions have intensified. The most visible flashpoint is the conflict between Adivasis and Kudmis over the demand for Scheduled Tribe status, a dispute that has unsettled long-standing alliances.
Meanwhile, the forces the movement sought to resist, including exploitative capital, state heavy-handedness and majoritarian cultural homogenisation, appear more emboldened than before. Adivasis continue to endure daily humiliations delivered through state institutions and dominant groups. The Jharkhandi identity, conceived as a safeguard for the marginalised, is struggling to live up to its original promise.
Jharkhand’s 25 years of statehood should be more than a ceremonial moment and call for reflection. The state must recall its leaders not as distant icons but as voices of an unfinished struggle, and return to the movement’s core promise of a Jharkhand where its people can live with dignity, justice, and equality. As festivities unfold and proclamations echo across Jharkhand, the occasion invites a gaze beyond the spectacle. Silver jubilees are not merely markers of time but mirrors, and Jharkhand must find the courage to look into that mirror with honesty.
The writer is an Academic Fellow and visiting faculty at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru
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