‘Nation has accepted RSS’: Hosabale rebuts Kharge’s call for ban

New Delhi: Asking Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to learn from his past experience, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh national general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said on Saturday that the saffron outfit was banned thrice in the past but people accepted it. Hosabale’s comments, made during a press conference at Jabalpur at the annual meet of RSS workers, comes amid a demand from Kharge that the RSS should be banned. 

“Society has accepted the RSS as the organisation which works for the nation’s unity, security, culture and development. It cannot be banned because a few leaders call for it. 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,” Hosabale told reporters. 

On Friday, in a function held to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Kharge said that he personally favoured a ban on the RSS, and said its ideology is like ‘poison’.

In his press meeting, Hosabale urged the Central government to implement a “population policy” to “correct” demographical imbalances. “A population policy is needed to address the problem of demographic imbalance; it is 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,” Hosabale said. 

“The government has spoken about it in Parliament. The sooner we have a population policy, the better it is,” he added. He said that conversions of Sikhs in Punjab should also be taken up.

Hosabale also said that the situation in Bengal is “bad”, especially 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,” he said, adding that RSS workers are working in the state regularly. 

On the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in poll-going Bihar, Hosabale said that the “refining of voter lists” is not taking place 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,” he said. 

The three-day meeting was attended by 397 out of the 407 delegates from across the country and largely focused on the Sangh’s activities.The RSS has decided to hold 80,000 “Hindu Sammelans” across the country – 45,000 in rural areas and the remaining 35,000 in urban clusters. They will also mount a contact programme called Grih Sampark Abhiyan, as well as Samajik Sadbhav meetings across blocks.

During the meet, the RSS issued 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 Vande Mataram.