On Janjatiya Gaurav Divas, 15 November 2026 — the 151st birth anniversary of Dharti Aaba Bhagwan Birsa Munda — Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi posted a pointed video on X asking one sharp question: where was Rahul Gandhi while Parliament paid tribute to India's most revered tribal icon?

CM Majhi did not leave the question rhetorical. His post noted that Gandhi — the Congress leader who has built much of his recent political identity around championing Adivasi rights — was in Hyderabad, attending the Bharat Summit alongside what the CM described as 'controversial foreign political figures,' even as the Indian legislature observed a formal tribute in New Delhi. 'Perhaps paying lip service is easier than paying tribute,' Majhi wrote, in a line that lands like an indictment.

The day India honours Birsa Munda

Birsa Munda, born 15 November 1875 in present-day Jharkhand, led the Ulgulan (the Great Tumult) — a fierce resistance movement against British land seizures and the exploitation of Adivasi communities in the late 19th century. He died in British custody in 1900, aged just 25, and is revered across tribal belts as a messianic figure who fused religious, cultural and political resistance into a single defiant act.

In 2021, the Government of India formally declared 15 November as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas — Tribal Pride Day — to institutionalise his legacy and spotlight the contributions of tribal communities to India's freedom struggle. The day now anchors BJP's annual outreach to Scheduled Tribe constituencies across states including Odisha and Jharkhand, where tribal voters make up a significant electoral force.

BJP's strategic ownership of a tribal icon

The Janjatiya Gaurav Divas declaration was itself a deliberate move. BJP-governed states have invested heavily in Birsa Munda commemorations — statues, welfare schemes, official ceremonies — building a symbolic architecture designed to signal that the party, not the Congress, is the genuine custodian of Adivasi dignity.

CM Majhi, who took charge of Odisha in June 2024, has made tribal welfare a centrepiece of his administration — a natural fit in a state where Scheduled Tribes account for over 22 per cent of the population. His post today is squarely within that political playbook: use a solemn national occasion to draw a contrast, and let the optics do the heavy work.

Congress's Adivasi positioning — and the absence problem

Rahul Gandhi has made Adivasi rights a recurring theme, raising issues of land displacement, forest rights and constitutional protections in Parliament and on the campaign trail. Congress has countered BJP's symbolic ownership of Birsa Munda by organising its own outreach programmes and by positioning itself as the party of substantive policy — land rights legislation, displacement redress — rather than ceremonial tribute.

But optics, in Indian politics, are rarely 'merely' symbolic. Majhi's post weaponises Gandhi's physical absence from Parliament on a day that has been framed — with considerable institutional energy — as a moment of Adivasi pride. Whether Gandhi attended a parallel event of genuine policy substance or not, the image of an empty seat during a formal tribute is a gift to any political opponent willing to use it. And Majhi did not hesitate.

Adivasi communities across Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh will watch how both parties follow today's words — and silences — with actual legislative and administrative action in the winter session of Parliament ahead.