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In Chhattisgarh, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s ‘stay strong’ appeal to tribals
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said everyone should stand with tribals to protect their society, pride and culture as Dilip Singh Judev, who died in 2013, did in his lifetime.
RAIPUR : Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Monday asked tribals to stay strong against those who try to dupe them by taking advantage of their innocence. The RSS chief said the pride of tribals was India’s pride and said people should stand together to understand and protect it for the country.
Bhagwat was speaking at a function organised by RSS-affiliate Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in Chhattisgarh’s Jashpur district to mark ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas’ (tribals’ pride day).
Bhagwant, who was on his second visit to Chhattisgarh ahead of the 2023 assembly elections, also unveiled the statue of late Dilip Singh Judeo, who for years led the ‘Ghar Wapsi’ campaign to reconvert tribals from Christianity in Jashpur region.
The top RSS leader said Judeo was brave and fearless and despite being famous and powerful, “he remained humble. He always stood for the pride of tribals”.
A BJP leader said Bhagwat’s visit will help keep the focus on the conversion of tribals in the upcoming elections. “At Bhagwat’s last meeting in Raipur in September, religious conversion in Chhattisgarh was the core issue and this visit to Jashpur creates a narrative that the Congress government is not making any attempt to contain religious conversion,” the leader added.
In the 2018 Assembly polls, the BJP lost all three seats, reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates, in Jashpur to Congress
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) started efforts to gain a foothold in what is now north Chhattisgarh in the 1980s by campaigning against what it insisted were attempts to lure tribals to convert. By 1993, the campaign began showing results, with the BJP winning the three tribal seats of Jashpur, Tapkara, and Bageecha.
To be sure, the erstwhile royal family of Jashpur had backed the RSS-affiliate Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram which started operations in 1952 in an attempt to check religious conversion, which set up a permanent office in 1963, inaugurated by then RSS Chief MS Golwalkar.
