Munda was born in Khunti district, near the state capital of Ranchi of Jharkhand state in India. Khunti is among the predominantly tribal belt in the central-eastern part of India. Incidentally, the village 'Ulihatu' near Khunti, is also the birthplace of the legendary, great tribal leader called Birsa Munda. Munda passed his M.A. examination from Ranchi University, in Anthropology, a subject which also predominantly studies the tribals in India and elsewhere.
Political career
Lok Sabha elections
Munda was 1st elected to the 6th Lok Sabha in 1977 from Khunti constituency in Bihar state (presently, in Jharkhand state). He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2009 from the same constituency of Khunti. In between, he was also elected and served as MLA to the Legislative Assemblies of Bihar and later, Jharkhand. Needless to say, being a representative of the people so repetitively, he has been equally popular among all sections of the society.
He was inducted into the Morarji Desai government in 1977 and given the portfolio of Steel Ministry, in the capacity as the Minister of State. He was a cabinet minister in the ministry headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, including the famous stint in the 13 days' government in 1999 and afterward. He has now been among the senior leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party, rising from the days of the 'Jansangh' and have witnessed many ups and downs in Indian politics, particularly since the days of emergency.
He was one of the candidates in the race to become first Chief Minister of Jharkhand at the time of its establishment in November 2000 but lost of Babulal Marandi and became the Minister for Agro and Rural Industries from September 2001 to January 2003 and Minister of Coal and Non-Conventional Energy Sources in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's third cabinet.[1][2][3][4]
In 2016–2017, the Raghubar Das ministry was seeking amendments to the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908, and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, 1949. These two original laws had safeguarded the rights of the tribal communities on their land. According to the existing laws the land transactions could only be done between the tribals. The new amendments gave the tribals the right to allow the government to make commercial use of the tribal land and to take the tribal land on lease. The proposed bill amending the existing law had been approved by the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly. The bills were sent to Murmu for approval in November 2016.[5][6]
The tribal people had strongly objected to the proposed law. During the Pathalgardi rebellion, protests were held against the proposed amendments to the tenancy acts.[7] In one incident the protests turned violent and the tribals abducted the security detail of BJP MP Karia Munda. Police responded with violent crackdown on the tribals, that caused the death of a tribal man. Criminal cases were filed against more than 200 people including the tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy. Murmu, was criticized for her soft stand on police aggression against tribals during the movement. Being a tribal herself, Murmu was expected to speak up to the government in support of the tribals but it did not happen, and instead she appealed to the Pathalgarhi agitation leaders to repose faith in the constitution.[5]
Murmu had received total of 192 memorandums against the amendments in the bill.[5] Then opposition leader Hemant Soren had said that the BJP government wanted to acquire tribal land through the two amendment Bills for the benefit of corporates. Opposition parties Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Congress, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha and others had put intense pressure against the bill.[7] On 24 May 2017, Murmu relented and refused to give assent to the bills and returned the bill to the state government along with the memorandums she had received. The bill was later withdrawn in August 2017.[5]
2019 Lok Sabha elections
He was one of the few elderly leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party who was denied a ticket for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.[8]
