BHOPAL: RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on Wednesday urged the government to pay “proper attention” to the concerns of young people and “engage in positive dialogue” with them, asserting that raising concerns and aspirations “doesn’t make the youth anti-national.”
Speaking to journalists after the three-day RSS Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal meeting concluded at Indore’s Daly College, Hosabale outlined the key issues discussed during the meeting.
“Decades back, I was also a youngster and a part of then Gen Z, while participating in the JP Movement. Proper attention needs to be paid towards the aspirations and concerns of the youngsters. During an interview in Mumbai, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat made it clear that raising issues and concerns doesn’t mean that the youth is against the country. Positive and sustained dialogue is needed for addressing the concerns of the youth and keeping them at bay from the anarchic forces,” he said.
Hosabale warned against “anarchic forces” from within and outside the country misusing youth power and protests to further their agendas.
“We are against misusing youth protests and movement for furthering political agenda, for disintegrating the society or country and using or spreading violence through these protests. From what is particularly happening in our country as well as other countries in the name of protest, conspiracy by anarchic forces from within and outside the country is very much possible,” the RSS general secretary said.
“Regime change through elections is a different thing all together, but spreading violence and anarchy in the name of protests, particularly through provocation of youths, isn’t at all in the interest of the society and nation,” he added.
Hosabale said the three-day Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal meeting, held in Indore from November 2 to 4, had prominently discussed the activities of anarchic forces during youth protests and the need to remain alert to their actions. “We’ve to all work at ensuring that anarchic forces don’t dominate in India. For that to happen, the inactive positive thinking individuals sitting at home need to integrate all like-minded people to form a unified voice to silence the anarchists. Staying silent and inactive at home will not serve cause,” he said.
Calling for constructive and positive dialogue with young people on a sustained basis, Hosabale said, “Youth too has a role to play in addressing injustice in the society, so the best way to address it by always listening to them. The abundant skill, talent and energy of the youth power should be channelised for positive purposes. An organization associated with the RSS started the Sarhad ko Pranam initiative to foster patriotic awareness about India’s land border among the youths. Similar initiatives are needed on regular basis.”
Detailing the youth-centric programmes held during the RSS's centenary celebrations, which concluded on Vijayadashami last month, Hosabale said more than 31.26 lakh college students, including those pursuing postgraduate courses, and over 6.90 lakh young working professionals had attended special youth-centric events organised by the Sangh across the country during the centenary year.
A total of 57,243 events were held at 14,285 locations to engage young working professionals, while events at 21,237 locations saw the participation of college students.
Hosbale criticises politics over SIR and 'vote theft'
Defending the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Hosabale said, “Political parties are habitual of working as per their agenda. But protests should be staged only after considering the entire truth of any subject rather than protesting only for the sake of opposition. SIR involves the refinement of voter lists, which has been done in the past too. The 13 crore voters whose names have been deleted included crores of dead voters, shouldn’t their names have been deleted?”
Citing his own experience of having his name removed from a duplicate entry in the electoral rolls during the SIR process, the RSS leader said, “Even I got a notice, as my brother got my name included in the voter list in my village in Karnataka 20 years back, but I never voted there. Though I vote in Bengaluru, my name remained in the list in my village also. So ultimately, I got my name deleted from the voter list in my village. So, the SIR has also removed names of duplicate voters from the lists,” he said.
“Further, if those who aren’t citizens of India, have managed to become voters, then it is wrong both in terms of country’s economic, national and social security. While TN Sheshan was the Election Commissioner, he got the voter lists of Bihar revised, you all know who was in power at that time, was that process wrong? SIR should be undertaken at regular intervals, politicians should raise genuine issues, rather than raising an irrelevant issues like SIR. There should be no politics on SIR. If anyone’s name has been wrongly deleted from the list, that individual has remedies through the ECI as well as the Court to get it rectified,” he added.
Meanwhile, Hosabale said the use of technology, the internet and social media had frequently come up for discussion during the Yuva Samvad programmes organised as part of the centenary celebrations.
“Curbing technology isn’t easy for governments. Governments in some countries have tried to stop the use of internet for children aged up to 13 years or restrict the night use of internet. TikTok has been banned in India, but did it actually succeed fully? In India too similar demands are being made by many people. Sangh believes that if this is possible through law then it can be done, but we believe that it cannot be addressed through law alone. The children need to be reformed through the right Sanskar (values and upbringing), spanning from families to school. During our Parivar Prabodhan programmes, the Sangh workers appealed the elders in families to render quality time to children and gradually discourage them from excessive use of devices and gadgets. We’re not averse to any law, but don’t think that legal provisions alone will address the problem. Only value-based education will help.”
On reservation, Hosabale said the system was important from a historical perspective and should continue until social and educational inequalities affecting historically disadvantaged sections had been eliminated.
“Till those who have actually been victims of social inequity, themselves feel that the discrimination has ended, the affirmative action in the form of reservation should continue. But one and all who are eligible to such reservation should get it. If reform is needed to ensure that not just few, but all those who are entitled to reservation actually get it, then the reform should be initiated in consultation with the concerned sections,” he said.
He, however, cautioned against vote-bank politics over reservation.