Mumbai: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday told a packed auditorium in Worli that while exercises such as the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls were helping identify infiltrators, citizens must remain vigilant, identify and report suspects to authorities, and boycott them economically by denying them jobs.
“Those who come from outside can be identified by their language. We should detect and report them to the appropriate authorities. They will investigate and keep an eye on them,” Bhagwat told a 900-strong audience, including some top industrialists and film stars, at the NSCI Dome, while speaking on the second day of a two-day programme to mark the centenary of the RSS.
Past governments had done nothing about infiltrators while the BJP-led government under Narendra Modi had started detecting and deporting them, he said, stressing the process would intensify further.
The Modi government at the centre and several BJP-led state governments including the Mahayuti government in Maharashtra have, in recent months, arrested/ deported thousands of suspected illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. But human rights groups and opposition parties allege that numerous law-abiding Bangla-speaking citizens from West Bengal have been targeted unfairly under the drive.
“The census is being conducted which will be followed by SIR. Those who are not Indians have started being identified. They will be automatically removed during the process,” Bhagwat said, urging people to contribute to the process by maintaining vigil.
“If you start looking around, you will find them (infiltrators) as your employees doing petty jobs. People from the Hindu community have stopped doing petty jobs as they are running after high-income jobs. This has created a vacuum ensuring jobs to infiltrators,” the RSS chief said. “We will not give employment to any foreigner. Anyone, who is from our country, be it Muslim, will get employment but not a foreigner.”
Bhagwat said the BJP had benefited from the RSS and not vice-versa, as claimed by some BJP leaders and dissidents recently.
“The Sangh has not directly benefited from the BJP; rather, parties aligned with the Sangh’s views and policies have benefited from the increased strength and acceptability of the Sangh in society,” he observed.
Responding to questions from the audience about all sarsanghchalaks or RSS chiefs till date being Brahmin, Bhagwat said, “Being a Brahmin is not a qualification for the post, just as belonging to the SC or ST communities is not a disqualification. The one who is best suited and available at the time should be appointed sarsanghchalak. He must be a Hindu, irrespective of caste.”
The perception about the RSS being a Brahmin-dominated organisation stemmed from its origins in a Brahmin-majority locality and many early leaders being from that community, he claimed. The Sangh had since expanded significantly across the country since then and now had representation from all castes and communities, he noted.
Bhagwat responded to a total of 143 questions from the audience, covering topics like the Sangh’s policies, Hindutva, the national scenario, education, economy, politics, foreign policy, national security, culture, arts, sports and language, lifestyle, and environment.
Speaking about his own tenure as RSS chief, he said it was the organisation which had asked him to continue in the role even after he attained the age of 75 years.
“Whenever the RSS asks me to step down, I will do so. But retirement from work will never happen,” he said.
The audience included industrialists such as Harsh Goenka, Sajjan Jindal, Ajay Piramal and Kumar Mangalam Birla, and Bollywood celebrities such as Akshay Kumar, Vicky Kaushal, Ananya Panday, Karan Johar, Raveena Tandon and Shilpa Shetty.