Culture Conflict

A network of Hindutva organisations is working hard to appropriate and influence tribal reform movements in Northeastern states

- Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

IN September 2021, Harsh Chouhan, the then chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), the top Constitutional body for the protection of tribal rights, came to the northeast Indian state of Assam on a four-day visit to attend a conference.

It was organised by the Janajati Dharma-Sanskriti Suraksha Mancha (JDSSM), which is part of the Sangh Parivar, the family of organisations affiliated or backed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological-organisation parent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that has been ruling the country since 2014. The conference saw the gathering of representatives from all states of northeast India.

The JDSSM operates under the guidance of the RSS’ tribal wing, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (VKA). The origin of the JDSSM lies in the December 2002 launch of an outfit named Northeast India Janajati Faith and Culture Protection Forum under the VKA’s guidance. Later, in April 2006, the Janajati Suraksha Manch (JSM) was launched nationally. Since then, the JSM has operated in northeast India under the banner of JDSSM, which also goes by the name Indigenous Faith and Culture Protection Forum (IFCPC).

Their main focus is to build and strengthen a movement demanding the delisting of tribals who have converted from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category.

This involves a huge number of India’s tribal people, as a large majority of northeast India’s population is tribals—1.26 crore or 27 per cent of the 4.5 crore population, and 78 lakh or 17.5 per cent are Christian, according to the census of 2011.