India, Sept. 14 -- September 3, 2026 was a red-letter day in the annals of Tapan Assembly Constituency (AC), South Dinajpur. It was the Birth Centenary Celebration of Nathaniyal Robinson Murmu (September 3, 1926 - October 25, 1989), the towering Adivasi social thinker, Santali litterateur par excellence and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) MLA from Tapan Legislative Assembly.

Nathaniyal has a unique track record of four electoral victories: 1962-1967, 1967-1969, 1969-1971, 1977-1982. Incidentally, Tapan Constituency is reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST). South Dinajpur has a land port border with Bangladesh at Hili.

Nathaniyal's father, Cornelius Murmu (a school teacher), and his mother, Naso Soren, were from Narayanpur Mission, Wes...