Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat will arrive in Chhattisgarh on Sunday evening for a four-day visit during which he will unveil the statue of former BJP MP and Union minister late Dilip Singh Judev in the tribal-dominated Jashpur district, a Sangh functionary said.
Bhagwat will reach Jashpur in the evening where he will unveil the statue on Monday and address a public meeting to mark the Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas, said Kaniram, the prant prachar pramukh of the Sangh's Chhattisgarh unit.
These programmes are being organised by Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, a frontal organisation of the RSS, which carries out welfare activities for forest dwellers in the tribal-dominated remote areas, he said. The Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas is observed on November 15, the birth anniversary of tribal freedom fighter Birsa Munda, to commemorate the contribution of tribal freedom fighters.
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On Tuesday, Bhagwat will attend the 'path sanchalan' (route march) programme to be jointly held by the RSS' Surguja and Koriya districts wings in Ambikapur, the headquarters of Surguja district, Kaniram said. The RSS chief will also address a programme where Sangh members will be present, he said.
Bhagwat will chair a meeting of the Sangh office-bearers and workers in Ambikapur on November 16, before concluding his visit on November 17, he added. Workers of the RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been inviting people from the interior pockets of Jashpur for Monday's programme as per a traditional custom by offering them 'peela chawal' (rice mixed with turmeric).
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Political analyst R Krishna Das said the unveiling of the statue of late Judev, who was hailed by the Hindu right wing for his campaign to reconvert tribals from Christianity, is a move to give recognition to his work and keep his memory alive among tribals of the region.
The way tribal people are being mobilised for the function in Jashpur, the opposition BJP in Chhattisgarh will try to cash in on Judev's image ahead of the next year's state Assembly elections, he claimed. The BJP had lost all three seats, reserved for the Scheduled Tribes candidates, in Jashpur to the Congress in the 2018 Assembly polls.
(With PTI inputs)
