Jaipal Singh Munda: The Unsung Sportsman

Jaipal Singh Munda wasn't just any regular sportsman. He was also an advocate for the rights of Adivasis and a member of the Constituent Assembly. However, very few people know his name. He was born in a tribal family in the Khunti district in Ranchi in 1903 in the Munda community. After learning at the village school, he gained admission to the prestigious St. Paul’s School in Ranchi. He displayed an exceptional gift for playing hockey and was outstanding in his studies. His leadership skills stood out from others and this caught the notice of the missionaries who were at the school.

He did his higher studies at Oxford University doing Honours in Economics. He also played hockey in Oxford and played so well that he was the first Indian-origin student to be endowed with the most coveted sporting colour called the “blue.” His skill impressed many people around him and this made the British ask him to captain the British Indian team at the Olympics held in Amsterdam in the year 1928.

It was the first Olympics in which India took part. He captained seventeen matches in which he played as a defender winning sixteen games and tying one. The finals were held on 26th May 1928. It was India against Holland, the host country. No one had expected India to reach the finals but Dhyan Chand and all the other members along with Jaipal’s captaincy had proved the nay-sayers wrong. India clobbered Holland with a score of 3-0 and India had won its first gold in Olympics, not to mention, the first gold in field hockey. This was a remarkable achievement and the team was glorified as heroes back home.

In 1929, he started a hockey team for the Mohun Bagan Club in Calcutta. He was a part of the Indian Civil Services but left afterwards. He worked as a teacher in Ghana, a British colony at that time but returned to India to work as the foreign secretary of the Bikaner princely state. He travelled in Patna and Ranchi and seeing the plight of impoverished people, he decided to dabble in politics to help them. He later became the president of Adivasi Mahasabha and worked relentlessly to help his community. After the Independence of India, he renamed it the Jharkhand Party and took part in the debates of the Constituent Assembly resulting in the formation of the Constitution of India.

He famously said, “Sir, I am proud to be a ‘Jangli’ that is the name by which we are known in my part of the country. You cannot teach democracy to the tribal people: you have to learn democratic ways from them. They are the most democratic people on earth.” Upholding the integrity and sovereignty of his people till his dying breath, he sadly passed away in 1970 after a brain haemorrhage. Jaipal Singh Munda was a true leader, not stopping till he had reached his objective whether it be in hockey or in helping his community to get representation and rights.