The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Sunday dismissed accusations linking it with some recent “condemnable” incidents like Dadri lynching episode, saying the Sangh is unnecessarily being put in the “dock” as part of a “conspiracy” by some forces. The RSS also denied that it sought a review of the reservation policy, asserting that it favoured its continuation as long as the society required the quota system.
On Saturday, the RSS had sought a review of population policy in the country in the wake of “severe demographic changes” found in the religion data of Census 2011. Expressing concern over the “demographic imbalances”, the RSS’ Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal passed a resolution urging the Centre to reformulate the National Population Policy keeping in view the availability of resources in the country, future needs and the “problem of demographic imbalance”.
The Sangh described as “highly deplorable” the “sinister attempts” being made by some elements to ridicule Hindu culture and organisations. “In the last few days, some forces are trying to put the Sangh in the dock by linking it with different incidents,” RSS general secretary Bhayyaji Joshi said, and described it as an “insult” to the Hindu society.
“We believe that the Sangh is unnecessarily being put in the dock as part of a conspiracy. We have always condemned such incidents because such incidents are not good for the society,” he told a Press conference here.
“We have been in the social life for the last 90 years and nobody raised allegations of intolerance against the Sangh,” he said. “I understand that this (allegation of intolerance) is an insult to the Hindu society and there is a necessity to correct it with a proper understanding of the Sangh’s constructive works in the society. The Sangh has always made forward strides together with all,” he said.
Stating that there is a necessity to go deeper into such incidents to find out the truth, he said that in the past also the Sangh had faced such allegations but when one went deeper into the allegations there was no truth found in such charges.
Replying to a query on reservation, Joshi said, “Whatever was said (by RSS chief Mohan Bhagawat recently) was not presented in proper words. Nowhere, it was said that there should be a review of the reservation policy. It is compulsory for the society.”
Earlier on Saturday, the RSS had come out with a resolution, a copy of which was released to the media, asking the Centre to impose total curb on infiltration from across the border, preparation of National Register of Citizens and preventing these infiltrators from acquiring citizenship rights and purchasing land.
Quoting the resolution, Sah-Sarakaryavah Krishna Gopal said that although India was one of the early countries in the world to announce as early as 1952 that it will have population planning measures, it was only in 2000 that a comprehensive population policy was formulated and a population commission was formed.
“Vast differences in (the) growth rates of different religious groups, infiltration and conversions, resulting in religious imbalance of the population ratio... may emerge as a threat to the unity, integrity and cultural identity of the country,” the resolution said.
The “threat”, it warned, was greater in the border areas of Assam, Bengal and Bihar, where the “rate of growth in (the) Muslim population has been much higher than the national average, indicating the unabated infiltration from Bangladesh”.
The resolution said the policy had intended to achieve a “stable but healthy population” by 2045 by optimising the fertility rate to an “ideal” figure of 2.1 total fertility rate, or the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime. “It was expected that this aim is in accordance with our national resources and expected future requirements, (and) it would be uniformly applied to all sections of society.”
However, the census data, it said, indicated that the total fertility rate as well as the child ratio was “uneven across religions”. “This is reflected in the fact that the share of population of religions of Bharatiya origin (Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains) which was 88 per cent has come down to 83.8 per cent while the Muslim population, which was 9.8 per cent, has increased to 14.23 per cent during the period 1951-2011,” the resolution said.
The RSS claimed the “religious” demographic “imbalance” had “assumed serious proportions”. It cited the example of Arunachal Pradesh where, quoting figures, it said the people of “religions of Bharatiya origin” accounted for 99.21 per cent of the population in 1951. But that figure, it said, was down to 81.3 per cent in 2001 and 67 per cent in 2011.
According to the 2011 census, Christians accounted for 30.26 per cent of Arunachal’s population, followed by Hindus at 20.04 per cent, “others” (mostly adherents of the Donyi Polo animistic faith) at 26. 2 per cent, and Buddhists at 11.76 per cent. The Sangh used the data to allege that the “rise” in the Christian population indicated an “organised and targeted religious conversion activity by some vested interests”.
The RSS’s second demand was to prepare a national citizens’ register to stem the “illegal infiltration” from across the border and prevent the “infiltrators” from acquiring citizenship rights and buying land.