On the birth anniversary of Kumram Bheem — the Gond Adivasi warrior who roared జల్, జంగల్, జమీన్ ('water, forest, land') and gave his life fighting the Nizam's forces for tribal rights — BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao offered his homage on Thursday, 22 October 2026, recounting the legacy his party built around the iconic rebel leader.

The Gond Lion Who Defied the Nizam

Kumram Bheem, revered as the 'Gond Bebbar Puli' (Gond Leopard), rose from the forests of what is today Kumaram Bheem Asifabad district to lead a fierce uprising against the Hyderabad Nizam's rule in the 1930s and 1940s. His demand was elemental and unshakeable: the right of Adivasi communities over their water, forests, and land. He was killed in 1940 — but his slogan became a rallying cry that would echo through decades of tribal rights movements across Telangana and beyond.

KTR, in his post, called Bheem 'the revolutionary sun who rose as a symbol of Adivasi awakening' — a leader who stood unflinchingly with the oppressed. The tribute is part of a deeply held political and cultural current within the BRS: positioning Telangana's pre-independence tribal martyrs as the true architects of the region's identity.

What the BRS Government Built in Bheem's Name

KTR cited three concrete acts of remembrance undertaken while the BRS was in power under former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao between 2014 and 2023. First and most significantly, the Telangana government in 2016 carved out a new district from the tribal belt and named it Kumaram Bheem Asifabad — an act that placed the leader's name permanently on the administrative map of the state. Second, a memorial garden was developed at Jodeghat, the site in Asifabad district closely associated with Bheem's resistance. Third, an Adivasi Bhavan was constructed in Hyderabad bearing the tribal hero's name — giving Adivasi communities a dedicated institutional space in the state capital.

'We worked to realise his aspirations during KCR garu's tenure... we undertook many programmes inspired by Kumram Bheem,' KTR wrote, offering his johaar — a salutation rooted in Adivasi tradition — to mark the Jayanti.

Bheem's Jayanti and BRS's Adivasi Outreach

The annual observance of Kumram Bheem Jayanti has become a significant moment in Telangana's political calendar, especially for parties seeking to consolidate support among the state's Scheduled Tribe communities. For BRS — now in opposition after losing power in December 2023 — the day is also an occasion to remind voters of governance decisions made in favour of tribal communities during its decade in office.

The broader pattern is deliberate: by anchoring regional identity to figures like Kumram Bheem, the party draws a line between Telangana's own history of resistance and the narratives that dominate national political discourse. Every memorial, every renamed district, every Adivasi Bhavan is a point on that line.

Bheem's battle cry — water, forest, land — has never really gone quiet. Today, it echoes again.