Are Adivasis Hindus? BJP leader challenges Jharkhand CM Soren for open debate

BJP leader Tuhin Sinha challenged Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren for an open debate over his remarks that tribal people "were never Hindus" and said Soren's comments were not supported by existing practices of Hindus and tribal people.

Author and BJP leader Tuhin Sinha has challenged Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren for an open debate over his remarks that tribal people "were never Hindus". Sinha called Soren's comment made last month at the Harvard India Conference a "misleading claim". Sinha said Soren's comments were not supported by existing practices of Hindus and tribal people, or "historical evidence of shared practices between the two communities". "Birsa Munda's mentor in the early 1890s after he shunned Christianity and walked out the Chaibasa Missionary school, was a Vaishnavite preacher, Anand Panrai," Sinha said. Birsa Munda was a tribal leader in the 19th century Jharkhand and continues to be a revered figure for the tribal population of the state.