What's wrong if the Hindu population rises: RSS chief

The RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat wants to know as to what is wrong if the population of the Hindus in the country rises. At a question answer session with more than 2000 couples in Agra, Bhagwat said: "Which law says that the population of Hindus'' should not rise? What is stopping them when population of others'' is rising. The issue is not related to the system. It is because the social environment is like this.”

The sarsanghchalak has once again brought into focus the issue of family planning, and the perception that the Hindu population has been declining

while the Muslim numbers have been rising, because the latter do not adhere to population control.

The statement drew a sharp reaction from senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. ‘‘What else can we expect from the RSS chief: Woh Dharm ki hi khaate hain, woh aur kya baat karenge” (He banks on religion only, what else he can say).

Azad added that in every statement Bhagwat makes,

‘‘I know all of you are thinking that I am a messenger of the government but that is not true. I won't be able to help you with issues like pension, work place harassment and others...’’

—MOHAN BHAGWAT SAID.

he talks of dividing the society. “He should have talked about employment, price rise but he didn't do so,” he observed. BSP chief Mayawati, while addressing a rally in Agra, also criticised Bhagwat for the comment on Hindu population. "The RSS chief tells Hindus to produce more than two children. I want to tell him: 'You say produce more children, then ask Narendra Modi and central government if they will make arrangements for feeding them'," she said. Bhagwat, seen as the final arbiter in the BJP-RSS dispensation, also made an interesting disclaimer in his interaction with the audience and said that he is not a messenger of the BJP-led NDA government. ‘‘The RSS cannot solve problems directly but produces swayamsevaks who can make a difference and change the system,” he said while asking the teachers who have grievances about salaries and changes in the education to meet the union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar. He also said that he would convey their problems to him. The RSS had organised this gathering of university and college teachers of the Braj region of Uttar Pradesh, obviously with an eye on the forthcoming state assembly elections in the state, so as to mobilise this influential section in favour of the BJP. In the same context, Bhagwat called upon the newer members of the gathering to visit the RSS shakhas. “For a long and stable change in the system in the national interest, I appeal to newcomers to this conference to come and the RSS shakha (office) and see for yourself. This is the way,” he observed.