As Chhattisgarh tribal leader Arvind Netam heads for RSS event, why it isn't good news for Congress
In Chhattisgarh's political terrain, where tribal votes are a decisive factor, an RSS invitation to senior tribal leader Arvind Netam to an annual event at its Nagpur headquarters has sparked intense speculation.
The former Union Minister in Indira Gandhi's Cabinet, who is from the Bastar region, will be the chief guest at the Sangh's 'Karyakarta Vikas Varg-Dwithiya Samapan Samaroh' on June 5. It marks the end of the three-year training period for swayamsevaks, or the Sangh cadre. It is the same event that former President Pranab Mukherjee attended in 2018, leading to criticism from some sections of the Congress.
With the invitation leading to questions about political motives, the 83-year-old tribal leader said he planned to attend to maintain good ties with the Sangh and further the cause of tribal rights in Bastar.
'I am going to the RSS event as I want strong communication with the RSS to make them understand tribal issues. The biggest issue right now in Bastar is conversion. I believe if the RSS supports us, then the BJP government will pay heed to our demands. We are the ones who first invited RSS leaders to our tribal event in December last year. Also, months ago, I met Mohan Bhagwat in Raipur and discussed tribal issues,' Netam told The Indian Express.
Netam said he would also discuss the need for a separate code for tribals in the Census. 'We have our own culture and religious practices. We do not want to be defined under any religion; we want our code. Due to talks, gradual changes are taking place. They (the RSS) are gradually calling us Adivasi and not Vanvasi,' he said.
An influential tribal leader in Bastar, Netam still retains a lot of political heft. Months before the Assembly elections in 2023, he had quit the Congress. This came after he floated his political party, Hamar Raj, which he carved out of the Sarva Adivasi Samaj (SAS), an umbrella group of tribal organisations. At the time, Netam had said the formation of Hamar Raj was similar to that of the Sangh that has '50-odd independent groups under it, including the BJP'.
In the elections, the Hamar Raj appeared to have hurt the Congress in at least two Assembly constituencies and is also estimated to have damaged the Congress's chances in the Kanker parliamentary seat in the Lok Sabha elections.
Netam's apparent move towards the Sangh comes when the Congress is already struggling to regain tribal votes. When the party had stormed to power in 2018, it had swept the Scheduled Tribe (ST)-reserved constituencies, winning 25 of the 29 seats while the BJP had got three. However, failure to effectively address tribal issues led to it losing ground among Adivasis and in 2023, the Congress saw its tally of ST seats drop to 11 while the BJP bagged 17.
The Congress, however, argues that even if Netam moves to the BJP, it won't have any adverse effect on its political fortunes. 'He (Netam) took a different political route and left the party. He is a big tribal leader, but we know the RSS's view of tribals. The RSS terms tribals as vanvasi (forest dwellers) and not Adivasi (the oldest inhabitants). So, does Netam agree with this? Politically, it will make no difference in elections … Bastar's public does not support him,' said the party's state communications chief Sushil Anand Shukla.
RSS's state media cell in-charge Sanjay Tiwari said Netam was doing 'good work' for tribals and opposed conversions. 'We invite even those who are our critics,' he added. 'Thousands will be attending the event. Many who want to understand the Sangh will also be there.'
BJP spokesperson Kedar Gupta said the RSS invitation should not be seen through the political lens. 'There is no political discrimination in the RSS. Before this, Pranab Mukherjee ji was invited and he graced the event. It is a nationalistic organisation that believes in working together with every section of society.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
20 minutes ago
- Time of India
'Can't breed vipers and expect them to bite only your neighbour', Tharoor decimates Bilawal-led Pak outreach in US
Washington, DC [United States], June 5 (ANI): Even as Pakistan's delegation, seeking to put its point across after India's action against terror during Op Sindoor , arrived in Washington on Wednesday, India's outreach delegation, led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor decimated Pakistan's copycat outreach effort. "This (Pakistan) delegation is going around saying we are also victims of terrorism; we have lost more lives to terrorism than India has. We turn around and say- Whose fault is that? As Hillary Clinton famously said 10 years ago. You can't breed vipers in your backyard and expect them to bite only your why they (Pakistan) are now getting terrorists attacked by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan , but who created the Taliban from which the Tehrik-i-Taliban broke off? We all know the answer to that, so let Pakistan look inside it and let it do some serious interior reflection before it goes around pleading innocence and deniability and everything else." Echoing the stand delegation member and BJP MP Tejasvi Surya hit out at the irony of Pakistan's delegation calling itself the delegation of peace. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với mức chênh lệch giá thấp nhất IC Markets Đăng ký Undo "Bhutto has been calling his delegation a peace delegation, and it is quite ironic that the Pakistdelegation is speaking the language of peace. It's like the Devil quoting from the scriptures. For a country that is trying to create fake heroes by promoting failed generals to field marshal, they don't know what true leaders look like. Pakistan has been surviving on cheap Chinese imports, including military hardware, which spectacularly failed on the battlefield. So perhaps it is hard for them to digest high-quality, high-calibre military hardware as well as strong democratic leadership on the other side of the border," Surya said. Earlier, under pressure Biawal Bhutto made an impassioned call for peace at the UN Headquarters in New York and even called for joint intelligence sharing on terrorism. A theory completely rejected by the Indian side. Live Events "I think the US has understood for some time now that India has a very clear position that there will be no talks with a gun pointed at our head... The problem is that we will not deal with people who are pointing a gun at our heads. I mean frankly, if your neighbour unleashes his Rottweilers* to bite your children and in fact to do worse to your children, and then says, let's talk. You think he's going to talk to him until he either unleashes those Rottweilers* or locks them up in a kennel or puts them to sleep. It's as simple as that. You're not going to talk to people who are pointing guns at your temples. It's not going to happen," said Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. "India does not seek war. We have never sought war in our civilisation's history... But that doesn't mean that we will remain passive in the face of Adharma. If there is cessation of aggression, you will have peace, but if you attack us not once, but we are ready to do 100 Operation Sindoor," said BJP MP Tejasvi Surya. India already has the upper hand as the two delegations come face to face in the US. On Wednesday, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast endorsed India's action against terror. "The world was holding its breath, watching what had taken place, both in disgust and also in anticipation of the response. When you are attacked, you have no choice but to respond. The world does not allow anything else, and those responses needed to take place. We have a great friendship and partnership between our nations, and we see nothing but growth and expansion in the future," he said. Pakistan is clearly on the back foot as India presents a strong case for itself. A sign of that came on Wednesday when Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif again urged US President Trump to facilitate talks with India. India's stance is clear: if there are to be talks, they will only be on terrorism emanating from Pakistan and Pakistan's illegal occupation of part of Jammu and Kashmir.
New Indian Express
21 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
Centre pushing Census to 2027 in bid to curtail TN's seats in Parliament: CM Stalin
CHENNAI: Sharply reacting to the announcement that the next Census of the country would be conducted from March 1, 2027, Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday charged that his apprehensions about the next delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies came true 'with the BJP-led union government delaying the Census to 2027'. The CM, in a post on X, said, 'The Constitution mandates that delimitation must follow the first Census after 2026. The BJP has now delayed the Census to 2027, making their plan clear to reduce TN's parliamentary representation.' The CM said what he had warned about is now unfolding. He charged that by siding with the BJP, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami is not just silent but complicit in this betrayal. 'It is now clear that he has surrendered to Delhi's domination. The people of Tamil Nadu are united as one in their demand for a fair delimitation. We need clear answers from the union government,' he added. On February 25, Stalin had termed the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies in 2026 (based on population) as a major threat to TN, as it is expected to reduce the state's representation in the LS from 39 to 31. Stalin had warned that, in the name of delimitation of parliamentary constituencies, a sword of Damocles is hanging over the heads of the southern states. If the total number of MPs across the country is increased and the seats redistributed, TN would still face a loss. 'Ultimately, the voice of TN will get strangulated. This is not just about the number of MPs but also about the rights of TN,' he had said.
News18
21 minutes ago
- News18
'Brilliantly Chosen Name': In US, Shashi Tharoor Says India's Operation Sindoor Avenged Blood
Last Updated: Shashi Tharoor, leading an all-party delegation in the US, praised India's 'Operation Sindoor', calling it a symbolic and strategic response to the Pahalgam terror attack. Praising India's counter-terrorism strikes against Pakistan, Shashi Tharoor, in the United States, said 'Operation Sindoor' was a 'brilliantly chosen name" and noted that the colour of the ' sindoor ' (vermilion) is not very different from the colour of the blood. Speaking at the National Press Club in the US, Tharoor said, 'Operation Sindoor, actually, I thought was a brilliantly chosen name. ' Sindoor ', in case some Americans obviously don't know about this, is a vermilion mark that is applied to the centre of the forehead of married women in the Hindu tradition. It's widely practised." 'Some non-Hindus do it too, but more for decorative purposes, but strictly speaking, the ' sindoor ' is applied at the time of the marriage ceremony and is worn every day thereafter by married women." 'So, we were very conscious of these brutal terrorists who, by the way, shot men in front of their wives and children but spared the women and when one wife screamed out, 'Kill me too', she was told, no, you go back and tell them what we've done," the Congress MP said. 'That was why the women were spared, it was a horrendous, horrendous act. That ' sindoor ' had essentially been wiped off the foreheads of 26 Indian women, 26 I was gonna say Hindu women, but one of them actually was a Christian, but the ' sindoor ' had been wiped off the rest by these terrorists, and so we wanted first of all, to avenge that act of wiping off the ' sindoor '," Tharoor said. 'But, secondly, it's no accident that the colour of the ' sindoor ' is bright vermilion red, which is not far from the colour of blood, and in many ways there is a Hindi expression which says ' khoon ka badla khoon ' (a bloody revenge for someone's killing). Here it was ' sindoor ka badla khoon ', that is, blood in response to what they have done to the ' sindoor '," he added. Tharoor is leading the all-party delegation to the US. The delegation is visiting key global capitals as part of the government's big diplomatic outreach to highlight its stand on terrorism following 'Operation Sindoor'. During the interaction, Tharoor was asked about the number of aircraft India lost in the conflict with Pakistan, to which he responded, 'We're not military folks, and our military is the only ones who really keep track of all of these things." 'But, I think the important message that came out was whatever may or may not have happened in the course of a conflict, neither side, by the way, talks about losses very much, and that's partially because you know very well that operational details are very closely held with the senior military people," Tharoor said. 'But, I can tell you one thing, whatever may or may not have happened, what turned out to be the last night of the conflict, when India not only effectively struck 11 airfields of the Pakistani military, but there are commercially available, publicly available satellite pictures showing the extensive damage done," he added. 'There have been craters on the runway, there have been operational command centers that have been busted by these Indian bombs, and just yesterday, the Pakistanis publicly admitted that Indian strikes were so wide-ranging and effective they struck from as far as Hyderabad in South Pakistan to Peshawar in the northwest," Tharoor said. 'So, it looks very clear that whatever damage the Pakistanis believe they may have inflicted on India, it wasn't sufficient to prevent India from inflicting such extensive damage on Pakistan. So, they decided to request us to stop, which we were very happy to do," he added. The delegation led by Tharoor includes Shambhavi Chaudhary (Lok Janshakti Party), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), GM Harish Balayogi (Telugu Desam Party), Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejaswi Surya, Bhubaneswar Kalita (all from BJP), Mallikarjun Devda (Shiv Sena), former Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora. The delegation arrived in the US after concluding their visit to Brazil, and also held a meeting with the US House Foreign Affairs Committee leadership in Washington, DC, HFAC Chairman Brian Mast, Ranking Member of the committee, Gregory Meeks, South and Central Asia Subcommittee Chair Bill Huizenga, Ranking members – Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Ami Bera, Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific Chair, Young Kim. As many as 26 people were killed and several others were injured in a terrorist attack in Baisaran valley of Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22. Among the victims were 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali citizen. In response to the Pahalgam attack, the Indian Armed Forces launched 'Operation Sindoor' on May 7 and targeted terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, resulting in the killing of more than 100 terrorists. India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire on May 10. ALSO READ | 'India Never Asked Trump To Mediate', Says Tharoor In US Amid Rahul Gandhi's 'Surrender' Remark Row About the Author Vani Mehrotra Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks. Get breaking news, in-depth analysis, and expert perspectives on everything from politics to crime and society. Stay informed with the latest India news only on News18. Download the News18 App to stay updated! First Published: June 05, 2025, 09:48 IST
