RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Nov.13: Mandar MLA, former education minister and executive president of Congress Bandhu Tirkey today asked the union railway minister to name railway station in Ranchi after Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda and the same in Hatia after Saheed Thakur Vishwanath Shahdeo.
Tirkey justified the demand saying Munda had played a vital role in starting agitation for a separate Jharkhand state. He was a politician, journalist, writer, editor, educationist, player and administrator. He said it was Munda who preferred using ‘Adivasi’ instead of ‘Janjati’.
Munda was the first who qualified for Indian Administrative Service and left the job for his love for hockey. He is the only international player to get Oxford Blue Award in Britain in 1925 and in his able leadership India won first Olympic gold medal in hockey in 1928. Born on January 3, 1903 he was a member of the constituent assembly in 1946 from Khunti (rural).
Justifying the name of the railway station in Hatia after Shahdeo, Tirkey said born on August 12 in 1817, Shahdeo as ruler of Barkagarh fought with the British. It was Shahdeo who played an important role in Sepoy Mutiny in Ramgarh Cantt by sending Sheikh Bhikhari and Umraon Singh. The British had hanged him in front of present Zila School gate on April 16, 1858.
