‘Population imbalance due to infiltration from Bangladesh worries ordinary Indians too,’ says RSS chief

In Dussehra address, RSS chief linked several political & social issues, spoke of negative ‘forces’ present in India for long and underlined need for cultural monitoring in society.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat delivering his annual Vijayadashami speech in Nagpur, Saturday | X @RSSorg

New Delhi: In his final Vijayadashami speech before the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) enters its centenary year, sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat condemned attempts to “cover up” the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, and stated that such incidents are the result of a larger cultural decay and corruption in society.

Linking several political and social issues, Bhagwat stated that there was a need for cultural monitoring in society, including a law on OTT platforms.

“What is the tradition of our country? If Droupadi’s clothes were touched, then Mahabharata happened. If Sita was abducted, then Ramayana happened,” Bhagwat said.

“And now, what are the kind of incidents happening? What happened in Kolkata in the RG Kar Hospital was a shameful incident, which is an insult to all of us,” he said.

“We should do what it takes to ensure that such incidents don’t happen, but even after happening, the way there was an attempt to cover up the incident, there was an attempt to protect the criminals,” he said in a rare attack on the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal.

“This is the result of the cultural decay that has spread, and the alliance that it has made with crime and politics,” he added.

In his speech, Bhagwat addressed the political crisis in Bangladesh in great detail, touching upon the “fundamentalism” in the country, the atrocities on Hindus, and the “population imbalance” created in India due to “infiltration” from the neighboring country.

“It has a become a ritual that any nation which starts growing rapidly is being pulled down. People will try to destabilise the democratically-elected government. An example of this is our neighbour, Bangladesh. We know that there are immediate reasons for that but such violence and war-like situation cannot happen due to any immediate or sudden happening,” he added.

While experts should discuss what these reasons may be, there are two things that need attention, Bhagwat asserted. One, the crisis (ouster of Sheikh Hasina) that led to repeated attacks on the Hindus living in Bangladesh, with the community coming together to protect itself for the “first time” in the country.

“However, till the time this fundamentalist trend of attacking the weak exists there, not just Hindus, but all minorities there are in danger,” he alleged. They need the help of Hindus across the world and the Indian government, he added. “That is why the infiltration from that country into Bharat and the consequent population imbalance caused by it has become a concern for ordinary people too.”

“Questions are raised on the country’s internal goodwill and security due to this illegal infiltration,” he added.

In what could be a veiled attack on the alleged US role in the Bangladesh crisis, Bhagwat said there are several countries in the world which want India’s progress to be limited.

“The commitment of the countries which claim to be liberal and democratic, disappears immediately when it comes to their own self-interest and security,” he said, without naming any country. “Then they have no qualms in attacking other countries and destabilizing their democratically elected governments through illegal and violent means.”

There have been widespread speculation of a possible role of the United States in instigating the agitation in Bangladesh, which led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in August this year. In fact, the US had to respond to the allegations, stating that they were “simply false.”

But the incidents in Bangladesh should be a reminder to Hindus that it is a crime to be weak. “If we are divided and weak, we are inviting atrocities,” the RSS chief said.

Two, there are narratives being spread in Bangladesh that the country faces a threat from India, and therefore, Pakistan is their primary friend. “This is the Bangladesh which India helped fully for its independence, and which India has never had any ill-feeling towards, and will never have even now… who is spreading these narratives? Which countries will benefit from such narratives? I don’t need to name them,” Bhagwat said.

However, there is a desire that such narratives are spread in India, too, he explained, adding “there are several forces at play to derail India’s progress,” including “deep state”, “wokeism”, “cultural Marxism”, etc.

Bhagwat, who had spoken about these “forces” in his last Vijayadashami speech too, said these forces have been very much present in India for a long time, and are the declared enemies of cultural traditions.

These forces operate by “invading” institutions, intellectual spaces, etc. and turn differences into conflicts across the country. They actively spur feelings of discontent, protests and militancy (ugravad) in the country, as in these times, countries are controlled not through wars but mantra viplav (ideological subversion), he added.

Message for upcoming elections

With elections coming up in Maharashtra in Jharkhand later this year, there were several political overtones in Bhagwat’s speech too.

He began his speech commemorating Ahilya Bai Holkar, the ruling queen of Indore in the 18^th Century within the Maratha Confederacy. “Devi Ahilya Bai was a skilled state administrator and a dutiful conscientious ruler striving for the welfare of her people,” he said. “She was proud of Dharma, Sanskriti and motherland, a great example of outstanding moral values and a ruler with an excellent understanding of war strategy.”

Last year, the Maharashtra government had renamed Ahmednagar to Ahilya Nagar.

Bhagwat also invoked “Bhagwan” Birsa Munda in his speech since the year marks his 150^th birth anniversary. Munda, a freedom fighter and tribal leader, with enormous following among tribal communities across India, particularly in Jharkhand where, he was raised, is considered a huge folk icon.

“This 150th anniversary will remind us of the inspiration of the Ulgulan movement initiated by Bhagwan Birsa Munda to liberate the tribal brothers from slavery and exploitation, freedom of motherland from foreign domination, protection of existence, identity and Sva-Dharma,” he said. “It is because of the glorious sacrifice of Bhagwan Birsa Munda that our tribal brethren now have a firm foundation for self-respect, development and contribution towards nation.”

Bhagwat also commemorated Anukulchandra Chakravarty, a homeopathic doctor and spiritual guru, who founded the Satsang in Jharkhand, a spiritual and cultural movement of the 20^th Century. “The headquarters of ‘Satsang’ at Devghar (Jharkhand) will celebrate the centenary of his work from 2024 to 2025,” Bhagwat said. “This campaign is moving forward with many initiatives of Sewa, Sanskar and development.”

‘OTT platforms big reason for cultural decay’

In order to defeat these forces, the society needs to come up with a well-thought-out strategy. It is in this context that Bhagwat underlined the need for a law to regulate OTT platforms.

“It is indecent to even mention the kind of things that are shown on OTT platforms, and therefore, I said there is a need for legal regulation on this because it is a big reason for cultural decay,” he said.

This is not the first time the RSS supremo has stated the need for OTT regulation. In 2021, at the time of the Covid pandemic too, Bhagwat had targeted OTT platforms and cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, saying there was a need to regulate them.

Months after the Lok Sabha polls, which saw the BJP’s numbers drop in Parliament reportedly due to a narrative spread by the Opposition that the Constitution faced a threat from the party in power, Bhagwat unequivocally expressed the RSS’ commitment to the Constitution.

With the RSS completing 100 years in 2025, the Sangh supremo said karyakartas will have a five-point agenda that they will seek to spread in society—social harmony, environmental awareness, kutum prabodhan (family enlightenment), swadeshi and citizen discipline.

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)