Summary:
Nagpur, Oct 5 (PTI) Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Wednesday India should frame a well thought out, comprehensive population control policy applicable to all social groups equally and flagged the issue of demographic "imbalance" as he also asserted there was no danger to minorities.
Speaking at the annual RSS Dussehra rally at the Reshimbagh Ground in Nagpur, Bhagwat called for women empowerment and covered a wide range of issues, from "Hindu Rashtra", education, self-reliance to India"s help to crisis-hit Sri Lanka and the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict during his more than 60-minute-long address.
He said community-based "population imbalance" is an important subject and should not be ignored.
Population imbalances lead to changes in geographical boundaries, he said.
"Seventy five years ago, we experienced this in our country.
In the 21st century, three new countries that have come into existence - East Timor, South Sudan and Kosovo – they have been the results of population imbalance in certain territories of Indonesia, Sudan and Serbia," he said.
The new population policy should be applicable to all communities equally to strike a balance, he said.
“There has to be a balance among the communities in this country,” he added.
"Alongside the differences in birth rate, conversions by force, lure or greed and infiltration are also big reasons.
All these factors have to be mulled over," he said.
Bhagwat emphasised on the use of mother tongue and said "English language is not important for building a career".
"When expecting the government to institute the promotion of mother tongue, we should also consider whether we sign our names in our mother tongue or not? Whether the nameplates affixed on our residences are rendered in mother tongue or not? Whether household invitations bear the texts in the mother tongue or not?" Bhagwat said.
The RSS invited acclaimed mountaineer Santosh Yadav as the chief guest for the event.
She is the first woman in the world to climb the Mount Everest twice.
Pointing out at China"s “one family one child” policy, Bhagwat said, “While we are trying to control the population, we should see what happened in China.
That country went for the one child policy and now it is getting older." “With 57 crore youth population in India, we will remain a young nation for the next 30 years.