New Delhi: On his way to Nagpur to attend a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh event, former Congress leader and Union minister Arvind Netam Tuesday said that initiating dialogue with the Sangh, “which works for the national cause”, is essential to bridging the gap between the organisation and indigenous communities.
Netam, an influential tribal voice in Chhattisgarh politics who served in the cabinets of former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and P.V. Narasimha Rao, had quit the Congress ahead of the 2023 Chhattisgarh assembly elections, accusing the party of sidelining tribal leaders and ignoring tribal issues. He later launched the Hamar Raj Party, which has so far performed poorly in polls.
Speaking to ThePrint, the 83-year-old criticised the Chhattisgarh unit of the Congress, which expressed surprise over the tribal leader’s acceptance of the RSS invite.
“On what grounds are they commenting on my decision? The state Congress unit is neck deep in corruption. Are they working for the upliftment of the nation? Had they been doing so, I would have gone with them, too. I will naturally engage with those who are involved in ideological discussions and debates,” Netam said.
“Take the issue of conversion. Where does the Congress stand? Why did the Congress not properly implement the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act? Then, there is the issue of displacement.”
Netam is slated to speak at the Sangh’s “Karyakarta Vikas Varg-Dwithiya Samapan Samaroh”—essentially the closing ceremony of the organisation’s second-level training camp—on 5 June as the chief guest. Former president Pranab Mukherjee’s decision to attend the same event in 2018 had upset the Congress high command.
The leader said that he had first met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat around four months ago. He added that he has distanced himself from politics over the last few years.
“I am not going to join the Sangh. I work for society. And we know the situation our society finds itself in ever since the liberalisation process took place. I felt it was necessary to establish a dialogue with the Sangh, keeping that concern in mind,” he told ThePrint.
“Only dialogue and exchange of ideas may help bridge the gap that exists between RSS and indigenous communities. And it will be beneficial for the society at large, too. After all, the Sangh works for nation and social development.”
Netam further said that during his visit, he plans to raise the demand for a separate code for tribals in the next population census—an issue on which the Sangh has a different view. “I know they have reservations, but how does one make efforts to resolve the differences of opinion unless there is a dialogue?”
It has been a long standing demand of various tribal communities, which do not consider themselves as members of organised religion like Hinduism, Islam or Christianity, to have a provision for enlisting themselves as “Others” in the decennial census.
However, the RSS, whose affiliate Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram works among tribals, considers indigenous communities as part of the larger fold of the Sanatan Dharma.
Netam’s Hamar Raj party may have failed so far to make any electoral splash, but its candidate polled more votes than the Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory margin over the Congress in the Kanker parliamentary seat, which Netam represented in the past, in the 2024 general elections.
“Look, I have retired from politics, and am no longer heading the party. But setting up a regional party is also one way to raise societal consciousness and awareness. National parties cannot do that. Only regional outfits can. It’s an experiment that has happened across the country. The Congress should realise that it lost due to its sins,” he remarked.
The Congress had swept to power in the 2018 assembly elections, based on a strong showing in the state’s seats reserved for tribals. The party had won 25 of the 29 seats for Scheduled Tribes in the 2018 elections, only to register a steep drop in its tally in the 2023 polls, winning only 11 reserved seats.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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