Veteran Chhattisgarh tribal leader Arvind Netam to address RSS volunteers

Nagpur, June 4 (PTI) Veteran tribal leader Arvind Netam, who was a cabinet minister in the governments of Indira Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao, will be the chief guest at the ceremony of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's volunteer training camp in Nagpur on Thursday.

The invitation to the 83-year-old tribal leader has raised some eyebrows in political circles given the role his political party had played during the 2023 polls in swinging crucial tribal votes in Chhattisgarh.

The 25-day training camp -- 'Karyakarta Vikas Varg - Dwitiya,' is currently underway at the Dr Hedgewar Smriti Mandir at Nagpur, with 840 volunteers from across the country participating.

During the function, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will address the participants at the event which marks the completion of the training period for 'swayamsevaks' (volunteers).

Former President Pranab Mukherjee had attended the concluding ceremony in 2018, drawing criticism from some sections of the Congress party.

The presence of Netam, a prominent voice on tribal issues, is heightened by his political background and influence, particularly in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region.

This invitation comes six months after Netam had met the RSS chief in Raipur to discuss tribal concerns.

The former Union Minister, who hails from Bastar, had quit the Congress party before the 2023 Assembly elections and floated the Hamar Raj party, carved out of the Sarva Adivasi Samaj (SAS)- an umbrella group of tribal organisations.

According to political analysts, Hamar Raj affected Congress's performance in at least two assembly constituencies in the 2023 assembly elections, and the Kanker parliamentary seat during the Lok Sabha polls. PTI CLS NP SKL NSK