Youth aspirations, grievances require attention, dialogue: RSS’s Dattatreya Hosabale

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on Wednesday said youth aspirations and grievances require attention and dialogue, even as he accused “anarchic forces” within and outside the country of trying to provoke and misuse youth for political interests, social division, and violence.Hosabale referred to the 1970s JP movement under socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan’s leadership against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s government, and said every young generation gets a feeling of anti-establishment.

“There are ways to channelise it. But to misuse it, to do political selfishness in it, to try to break society in it, or to use violence, should absolutely not be done. We oppose this,” he said following a three-day annual meeting of RSS, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ideological fount, in Indore.“When we were also young, we also staged protests in anger. We were also in the JP movement.”He said addressing genuine youth concerns, preventing disruptive forces from gaining influence, and encouraging socially conscious citizens to actively counter such tendencies were among the issues discussed at the meeting.The comments came against the backdrop of protests against paper leaks, which led to then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation in July, and against alleged irregularities in electoral roll revisions.Hosabale referred to “regime change” calls and said political change through elections and democracy is legitimate, but creating unrest, division or violence is not in society’s interest.Hosabale reiterated that quotas should continue until social and educational inequalities arising from discrimination are removed.

“Benefits must reach all eligible communities. Reforms can be considered if beneficiaries seek them, and reservation should not be used for vote-bank politics.”He said no law mandates RSS’s registration. He maintained that RSS is not separate from society but an effort to organise it. “The organisation functions in accordance with the Constitution and has received judicial support when permissions were denied in states such as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka,” he said.Karnataka home minister Priyank Kharge has repeatedly asked the RSS to register and disclose its finances.Hosabale said the RSS has no intention of becoming an international organisation, but it engages overseas when invited to explain its work, respond to criticism and present its perspective in discussions in foreign media, legislatures, universities and think tanks.Hosabale backed the Special Intensive Revision, calling it voter list purification.

He argued that deceased, duplicate entries and non-citizens should be removed. He said such exercises have precedent and should be conducted periodically. “The voters whose names are wrongly deleted can seek remedies through the Election Commission or courts.” He criticised the opposition to the exercise as politically motivated.Hosabale announced a major organisational restructuring.

He said there has been a 150% increase in RSS shakhas in West Bengal over the past year, coinciding with the formation of the BJP’s government in the state for the first time. “Earlier, we faced direct and physical opposition while trying to run shakhas there. That opposition is no longer there, and the situation has changed.”Hosabale said the discussions on the concluding day of the three-day RSS meeting in Indore focused on its new organisational structure.

“Following organisational elections in November-December, presidents and new executive bodies will be elected, and 88 sambhags (divisions) will be formed. Future work plans will be prepared from the perspective of these 88 divisions,” he said.He referred to past violence against RSS workers and said they were killed in the Northeast, including in Tripura, Assam, and Kerala.He said the organisation continued expanding its presence.

Hosabale said weekly programmes have been started at 48 locations in Arunachal Pradesh, while two shakhas are now functioning in Mizoram despite the state’s negligible Hindu population. “The RSS also has a presence in Ladakh.”Hosabale said a programme in Port Blair drew over 5,000 participants, including people from 13 smaller islands across the Andaman region.Hosabale said as part of its centenary-year outreach, the RSS organised 65,664 Hindu Sammelans under five major programmes, which together drew around 50 million participants.