The Chhattisgarh Sarva Adivasi Samaj (SAS) – a body that represents tribals in the State and acts as an umbrella for various social movements taken up by the community – on Wednesday announced that it would contest the Assembly elections due later this year.
At a press conference in Raipur, Arvind Netam, a former Union minister who is the patron of the Samaj, said the body has decided that it would be contesting in all the 29 reserved tribal seats as well as twenty-odd general seats where the tribals comprise 20 to 40% of the population.
“For a decade and a half we have been raising issues pertaining to tribal rights, but the political class has disappointed us consistently. The decision to contest elections stems from this disappointment because the ruling parties [the Congress and the BJP] have failed to provide us what is constitutionally ours. This will be the first of its kind experiment in the country where a social movement will enter the political fray,” said Mr. Netam, 80, who continues to be a primary member of the ruling Congress.
