Lore to the fore

A tribal museum in Nava Raipur celebrates Chhattisgarh's forgotten freedom fighters

- SHUBHANGI SHAH/NAVA RAIPUR

MINING AND NAXALISM HAVE, for years, shaped the conversations around Chhattisgarh. But now, the state is carving out a new identity, one rooted in its rich tribal culture and history.

Just six months after opening its first tribal museum in Nava Raipur, it has unveiled another—a freedom fighters' museum dedicated to the many tribal groups who rose against the British but rarely found space in mainstream narratives. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Memorial and Tribal Freedom Fighters Museum—named after Chhattisgarh's first freedom fighter who was part of the 1857 rebellion—in Nava Raipur on November 1.

It is a joint venture of the Union tribal affairs ministry and the state government. Spread across 9.75 acres and built at a cost of ₹53.13 crore, it has been billed as India's first digital tribal museum.