BHOPAL: “Society has accepted the RSS as the organisation which works for the nation’s unity, security, culture and development. It cannot be banned as a few leaders wish for it,” RSS national general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said on Saturday.
Reacting to Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge’s call to ban the RSS in the country, Hosabale said, “Entire society recognises the Sangh as the organisation which works for the unity, security, culture and development of the country. Three times in the past, the RSS was banned, but everyone knows what happened later. Before making any such demand, politicians should learn lessons from past experiences.”
On the 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on Friday, the Congress national president had reiterated that the RSS should be banned in the country, stating that even Sardar Patel had banned the participation of government employees in RSS's activities.
Talking to journalists in Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) on the concluding day of the three-day RSS national executive meeting on Saturday, the RSS general secretary, when questioned about the changing dynamics of RSS-BJP ties post 2014, said, “We’ve stated our stand on the issue of relations between the RSS and BJP, maybe 50,000 times in the past 50 years.”
“Sangh’s Swayamsevaks are in every party, but their numbers are more in the BJP, because unlike the other parties, the BJP doesn’t restrict the entry of Sangh Swayamsevaks within its fold. RSS is an organisation of people, and it has kept on raising contemporary national and social issues with governments and individuals within the governments, irrespective of who is in power. It’s up to the other side to decide whether to keep doors shut or open them for our Swayamsevaks. Country’s former President Pranab Mukerjee wasn’t a Swayamsevak, but we had good ties with him, which is why he attended our event in Nagpur.”
“But when the Swayamsevaks are themselves running the government, then naturally our coordination with the government is better. Dynamics haven’t changed after 2014, they (BJP) are ghar ke log (from the same family), so the bhaichara (brotherhood) prevails,” Hosabale maintained.
Raising concern over the issue of Demographic Imbalance, the RSS top functionary said, “A population policy is needed to address the problem of demographic imbalance; it’s up to the government to swiftly formulate the policy. Infiltration, religious conversion and high rate of population growth in some communities are primarily behind the rising threat of democratic imbalance.”
He particularly mentioned about religious conversion of Sikhs in Punjab, which needed to be dealt with adequately.
While maintaining that the situation in West Bengal wasn’t part of the agenda at the three-day RSS All India executive body meeting in Jabalpur, he, however, added that a resolution was passed about Bengal in the last meeting. “The situation is actually bad in Bengal, particularly after the last election. Hatred and conflicts have risen there, especially due to the political leadership and the CM there. Keeping a border state violent and unstable isn’t good for the country. Our Swayamsevaks are regularly working in Bengal for national unity and social harmony there.”
While making it clear that no discussions happened at the three-day conclave about Bihar elections, Hosabale said, “We always appeal for cent voting. We also appeal that voters should exercise their franchise based on national and social issues, rather than voting based on caste, money or promises of freebies by political parties.”
On the issue of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists, he said, “The refining of voter lists isn’t happening for the first time; it happens at regular intervals and is essential. There should be no opposition to it; those having objections to the SIR methodology should approach the ECI in the matter.”
While informing that the Manipur situation was discussed at the meeting chaired by the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS general secretary said, “The situation in the bordering state is improving. The centre has taken steps, including the Prime Minister being there despite inclement weather. The Swayamsevaks have worked on the ground there for two years. Like the people of the state, we also want a popular government there; we sincerely hope the government will work in that direction at the appropriate time.”
While welcoming the surrender of Maoists in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, he said that the government needs to deal with the concerns of those areas in a very sensitive manner.
He further informed that the three-day meeting also discussed the issue of the rising menace of drug abuse among youngsters, spanning from schools and universities to hostels, including IIMs and IITs, particularly in the bordering states.
The three-day meeting, which was attended by 397 out of the 407 delegates from across the country, was the brainstorming of the second-highest decision-making body of the RSS.
The three-day meeting largely focused on the Sangh’s activities and events in the organisation’s centenary year, including its ongoing and coming initiatives to connect the RSS’s Panch Parivartan to every nook and cranny of the country.
Around 80,000 Hindu Sammelans will be held (45,000 in rural areas and the remaining 35,000 in urban clusters). Grih Sampark Abhiyan to connect door-to-door with families, besides Samajik Sadbhav meeting at block level, and meetings of prominent citizens and intellectuals will be held at the district level nationally.
On the last day of the meeting, the RSS also released statements on the 150th year of the birth of Birsa Munda, the 350th year of the ‘martyrdom’ of Guru Tegh Bahadur, and 150 years of the composition of the national song Vande Mataram.
