Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday addressed a three-day outreach event held as part of the party’s centenary celebrations and raised concerns about the country’s demographic changes, citing illegal immigration and religious conversion as key reasons.
The RSS leader stated that every Indian family should have three children to keep the population sufficient and under control and said that while governments respond to these challenges in their own way, society too must resolve not to give jobs to illegal immigrants.
“We are worried about demographic changes as we have seen what happens (because of it). It has led to partition not just in India… More than the population it is the intent of the people that is concerning,” Bhagwat said on Thursday.
Highlighting the risks posed by unchecked immigration, Bhagwat urged society to take responsibility beyond what the government can do.
“We have experience of problems being created. The government is making efforts, but people should ensure that only our own countrymen, including Muslims, should get work,” he said. He added, “Countries have borders. If DNA is one, why not seek permission…”
On the issue of religious conversions, Bhagwat asserted that such practices are not part of Indian tradition. “…Religion is a choice, people can come and go but not through inducement and fear, it needs to be stopped,” he said.
The Sangh has consistently advocated for stricter population control policies.
Bhagwat echoed this concern, stating, “Doctors told me it is good to marry early and have three kids as it is good for health and the children learn ego management. Our population policy recommends 2.1 (average number of children), which means three children…”
He added that each Indian family should aim for three children to maintain demographic balance.
This comes at a time when India’s total fertility rate (TFR) has declined to 1.9, below the replacement level of 2.1, as per a UNFPA report released in June.
Amid ongoing political discourse over language policy, Bhagwat reaffirmed the Sangh’s stance against imposing any particular language while advocating for a unifying Indian language. “All Indian languages are national languages. There is a need for a language as a medium to connect people and that should not be a foreign language. Which one it will be should be decided by people,” he said.
His remarks come in the backdrop of criticism from several southern states accusing the BJP-led Centre of attempting to impose Hindi.
Clarifying the RSS’s position on the use of English, Bhagwat noted, “There is no problem in learning English but we must preserve our own culture and language, as well.”
Addressing religious polarisation and the trend of renaming roads and institutions, Bhagwat said, “Roads should not be named after foreign invaders, but as a tribute to people who inspire.”
Reiterating the RSS’s commitment to constitutional provisions, he said the organisation supports caste-based reservations and respects religious diversity. “Muslims and Christians shouldn’t be made to believe that they are different from fellow Indians because their mode of worship is different… Why is there a talk of Hindu-Muslim unity when all are the same. We all are Indians…” he said.
Bhagwat also pushed for greater attention to Sanskrit, without making it mandatory. He reaffirmed that the RSS has never been an extremist group.
“Had we been militant, we would have been underground,” he said, adding that the Sangh’s widespread reach across the country disproves such allegations.