P. A. Chacko SJ
Anthony Murmu, son of Michael Meghrae Murmu, belonged to the Murmu clan of the Santal Tribe in Santal Parganas in Jharkhand State in eastern India. He was born on October 27, 1930 at Durgapur village. Murmu and 14 others, mostly his Adivasi brethren, became martyrs on April 19, 1985. They were felled by the bullet-spraying gang of the landlord-moneylender class and the local district police of Sahibganj in erstwhile Bihar.
Murmu had belonged to the Jesuit Organisation as the first tribal candidate in Santal Parganas. In the post Vatican II scenario, and, inspired by the Jesuit Society’s then declared ‘Option for the Poor’ in its 32nd General Congregation, Father Murmu took a mild plunge into social action. He presented the Gospel message in the tribal cultural context through cultural forms of musical drama and poetic recitations.
With that, he had a good grip on people at the ground level. So far so good! His colleagues and church authorities looked on with mild caution and silent approval.
But, matters took a different turn when he proposed to the authorities that he would think of standing for election to become a Member of the Lower House of the Indian Parliament from the Rajmahal Constituency in Santal Parganas. For the local Church, it was a bombshell. All hell broke loose. There was even a letter of proclamation by the Diocesan head read out in every church that Murmu had been banned from officiating at liturgical functions.
Murmu was a visionary. His vision was to help his underdeveloped and exploited brethren from a point of strength as an elected representative. Thus, he dared to travel off the beaten track.
On winning the Rajmahal parliamentary seat on a Janata Party ticket, he became a purposeful Member of the Sixth Lok Sabha. Though he lost a second chance, he continued his activities with a social approach.
The fateful incident of Banjhi Massacre was an unexpected one. The villagers of a number of villages in Sahibganj district had gathered at the entrance of the Banjhi market, about 20 km from Sahibganj district headquarters, to demonstrate against the ever- mounting oppression of the trading and money lending community at Banhji.
Fishing out the dead body of a Santal 3rd gender from Banjhi pond, the Santals pinned their suspicion on a Banjhi trader. They were also incensed by the moneylenders grabbing their land illegally.
The assemblage sent shock waves to the non tribals in the market. They informed the Sub-divisional Magistrate that there was an explosive situation and the bazaar people were under siege. The Sub-divisional Magistrate arrived with police force. Planting himself in the middle of the bazaar, he asked for people’s representatives to come for negotiations. The people approached Murmu who was then at home. They forced him out and sent him with four others to meet the SDO.
What followed was hellfire. After long waiting for the reps to come back, the crowd surged forward. The non-tribals raised a false alarm that the tribals were attacking them with bows and arrows. The SDM ordered the force to fire. The non-tribals, ready with their country guns, joined the police in spraying bullets on the tribals.
The bloodbath resulted in 14 people laying dead in the market street. Murmu was not seen around. The people came to know later that Murmur’s dead body was taken to far away Bhagalpur for post mortem. It was assumed that he had been killed in the Panchayat Bhavan where the SDO had conducted the meeting.
It was a tragic moment of defeat for the tribals. But, slowly and steadily, their pain turned into a determination to stand on their own legs rather than depending on mahajans and moneylenders. They reclaimed their fields and farms and told the exploiter group to keep off.
The Banjhi Martyrs’ Memorial function every year on April 19 helps people to draw inspiration from Anthony Murmu and his companions who laid down their lives for a worthy cause of people’s liberation and development.