The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has renewed its call for a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC). Its national publicity in-charge, Sunil Ambekar, argued that identifying citizens is necessary to address what he described as a “population imbalance” and to safeguard the country’s unity, integrity and security.
Ambekar said that when solutions to population imbalance are discussed, a National Register of Citizens is among those suggested. He also said an NRC could help identify people who have been wrongly included in electoral rolls. The remarks come at a time when the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists and the Census are already part of the national conversation.
Placing the issue in a historical frame, Ambekar linked demographic change to the 1947 Partition, saying it must be viewed in the context of the country’s history and security. He added that every nation has an identity, and that a balance among people who regard the country’s culture as their own is needed to preserve it.
He also spoke about marriage laws. According to a Marathi-language report, Ambekar said some communities were allowed to have multiple marriages, whereas Hindus were told that having more than one spouse would be punishable. He said the law should be uniform for all. The same report notes that the RSS has been demanding a nationwide NRC for several years, and quotes Ambekar as saying that CAA is needed to ensure citizenship for those who have returned, while the NRC is needed to identify others.
Ambekar had made similar points earlier. At a public interaction in Indore marking 100 years of the RSS, he said illegal infiltration and religious conversions through “force, inducement and deception” also create population imbalance.
The demand has drawn sharp opposition. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has called the NRC “100 times worse,” reflecting the deep political divide over the proposal.
