‘Will not allow it to force tribals to declare themselves Hindus’

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Saturday warned RSS workers of legal action if they went ahead with their plan to “coerce” the tribals of the State into declaring themselves Hindus during the 2021 census.

“Being the Chief Minister, I’ll not allow the RSS to go ahead with its plan, at any cost, of coercing the innocent tribals, having the largest population in Madhya Pradesh, ... into declaring a particular religious identity during the census,” he was quoted as saying in a note released by the government. The note was in response to media reports on the plan.

Rejecting the basic identity of tribals, the RSS was referring to them in its literature as ‘vanvasi’ (forest-dwellers), the note said. “The Chief Minister will not allow anyone at any cost to spew venom in the lives of peace-loving tribals.”

When the RSS failed to get the National Register of Citizens implemented nationwide, it was attempting to take its “dangerous plans” through another route, the note said. “This is another of the divisive plans of the RSS that has come before the country.”

Recently, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat visited Bhopal and Guna to review the BJP’s campaign on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and assess the party’s waning popularity after it ruled the State for 15 years until 2018.