On Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas, 15 November 2026, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal paid homage to tribal icon Bhagwan Birsa Munda on his birth anniversary, invoking the leader's legendary fight for jal, jungle, zameen — water, forests and land — as an enduring inspiration for every Indian.

Kejriwal wrote: 'On the birth anniversary of 'Dharti Aaba' Bhagwan Birsa Munda ji, I offer crores of salutations. His historic struggle for the protection of water, forests, land and Adivasi self-respect continues to inspire the entire nation to fight for its rights.' The title Dharti Aaba — 'Father of the Earth' — reflects the reverence Munda communities across Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh have long held for the leader.

Who was Birsa Munda — and why the nation remembers him today

Birsa Munda was born on 15 November 1875 in the Chotanagpur region of present-day Jharkhand. A young Munda tribal leader, he launched the Ulgulan ('the great tumult') rebellion in the late 19th century — a movement that simultaneously challenged British colonial rule and the oppressive diku (outsider landlord) system that was stripping tribal communities of their ancestral lands and forests. He died in British custody in 1900, aged just 25, but left behind a political and cultural legacy that outlasted the empire.

His core demand — that tribal communities had an inalienable right to their land, water and forests — prefigured debates that are very much alive today, from the implementation of the Forest Rights Act to displacement controversies around mining projects in central India.

Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas: how 15 November became a national occasion

In 2021, the Union Government formally declared 15 November as Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas to honour Birsa Munda's birth anniversary and recognise the broader contribution of tribal communities to India's freedom struggle. The day has since become a fixture on the national calendar, with leaders across the political spectrum posting tributes and state governments organising cultural programmes in tribal-majority districts.

That cross-party convergence is itself telling. Tributes to Birsa Munda carry electoral weight in states like Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, where Adivasi voters form a decisive bloc. The language of jal-jungle-zameen — the same phrase Kejriwal deployed — has migrated from activist vocabulary into mainstream political speech, signalling how central tribal land rights have become to competitive politics in central and eastern India.

For AAP, a party that built its national brand on urban governance, the tribute also signals a deliberate effort to speak to constituencies beyond its Delhi stronghold — a pattern visible in the party's expanding presence in tribal-heavy assembly segments in recent electoral cycles.