Jaipal Singh

Jaipal Singh Munda

Jaipal Singh Munda (January 3, 1903 – March 20, 1970) was a Munda tribal originally from the state of Bihar in India. Munda captained the Indian field hockey team to win the gold medal at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. Due to his popularity, Munda became a popular advocate of Adivasi cause and creation of a separate home land for adivasis of central India. As a member of the Constituent Assembly of India he actively campaigned for the rights of the scheduled tribes. He formed Adivasi Mahasabha in 1938, himself as its president. After independence the name of the party was changed to Jharkhand Party to accommodate non-tribal people to achieve long term goals. He is popularly known as "Marang Gomke" (meaning Great Leader) by the tribals of Chotanagpur. Unfortunately, he did not live to see his dream come true. In November of 2000, Jharkand was carved out of Bihar.