RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat: To progress, allow women equal rights, freedom to work

“We either lock them in the prayer room, or treat them as second class and shut them in the house. To do away with this, we need to make them active by giving them equal rights in the domestic and public sphere and independence in decision-making,” he said.

Mountaineer and former ITBP officer Santosh Yadav was the chief guest at the RSS rally – there are not many instances of a woman as chief guest at the Sangh’s Vijayadashami event though Bhagwat did mention a few examples.

He tried to play down the perception that the RSS is male-dominated.

“Presence of women who have been achievers, part of the intelligentsia and source of inspiration in RSS functions has been a norm in the Sangh since the time of Doctor Sahab (RSS founder Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar). Anasuyabai Kale was present at our event at that time. Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, then chief of All India Women’s Conference, has also been part of our shivir. In December 1934 too, the chief guest was a woman,” he said.

He said separate wings for men and women in the RSS was an organisational imperative, but in every sphere, workers of both genders worked together.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat addresses at a Vijayadashami function, in Nagpur, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (PTI Photo)

“So, the work of nation-building is done by different sets of organisational units for men and women, but in all social work (taken up by the Sangh), men and women work together. This has been going on,” he said.

Expressing concern over the “population imbalance” in the country which has led to “division of countries”, the RSS chief called for a comprehensive population control policy which “must apply to all without any exception”.

The main reason for population imbalance, he said, was conversion. “There has to be a balance in population. When there was an imbalance 50-odd years ago, we suffered serious consequences. It hasn’t just happened to us. In today’s time, new countries such as East Timor, South Sudan and Kosovo were created. So, when there is population imbalance, new countries are created. Countries are divided.”

“Birth rate is only one part of this imbalance. But conversion by force and allurement are the biggest factors. Infiltration from across the border is also responsible. In national interest, it is necessary to keep an eye on this imbalance,” he said.

India’s large population of the young, the RSS chief said, can be leveraged as a demographic dividend but the country needs to plan on arranging resources when this population grows old in 50 years.

But he warned against excessive control over population as in China. “We came up with a (population control) policy a few years ago. It was 2.1. We did better than the world expected and we have come down to 2. But coming further down could be detrimental. Children learn social behaviour in the family and for that you need numbers in the family. You need people of your age, you need those older to you, also those younger. When population stops increasing, societies disappear, languages disappear,” he said.

Bhagwat reached out to Muslims, saying “misinformation” had been spread about Sangh’s agitations which were only aimed at defending the nation against terrorist forces.

“We do not want to conquer others. We just don’t want to be conquered and so we seek strength… But there is scare-mongering that ‘arrey, Sangh wale marenge’ (RSS workers will beat you) ‘the Hindu Sangathan will kick everyone out’. This misinformation has been spread. Because of this fear, some members of the minority community have been meeting us over the past few years. We are also meeting people from the community,” he said.

Underlining that the Sangh has been doing this for quite some time, he said, “We will continue this conversation.”

“It is a strange reality that to be heard in this world, truth also needs strength. There are evil forces also in this world and to save oneself and others from them, virtuous forces need to have organised strength of their own. Spreading… national thought, the Sangh works to develop the entire society as an organised force. This work is Hindu Sangathan work… called as thought of Hindu nation, and it is so. Without opposing anybody, Sangh organises all who subscribe to this thought i.e. organises the Hindu society for protecting the Hindu dharma, sanskriti, samaj and all-round development of the Hindu Rashtra,” he said.

Speaking on the killing of two persons in Udaipur and Amravati by Islamic radicals protesting remarks on the Prophet by the now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, Bhagwat said all communities must condemn such attacks, not just Hindus.

“It doesn’t happen always, but this time some prominent people from even the Muslim community opposed it, called it anti-islamic. This should not be an exception. All societies must speak out,” he said.

He also cautioned against provocative speeches. “Even while staying within the limits of the law and the Constitution, one must make expressions of protest in a manner that does not hurt others or creates division in the society. No one’s shraddha (faith) should be hurt,” he said.