RSS' Bhaiyaji Joshi bats for countrywide NRC, common civil code

Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) Sarkaryavah Suresh (Bhaiyaji) Joshi on Friday said the enumeration of National Register of Citizens should be carried out countrywide. He also batted for a common civil code.

Addressing a press conference here, Joshi said the NRC exercise is needed to identify infiltrators, check on the growing demographic imbalance and to deal with the threat imposed by infiltrators to national security.

Responding to a question, Joshi said, "It is the duty of any government to identify infiltrators, frame a law to tackle with it and take action accordingly. This has only been done in Assam, it should be extended across the nation."

He further said: "Such an exercise has become essential as some states have been overflowing with outsiders who collaborate with anti-national forces and work against Hindus," Joshi told reporters.

The RSS functionary was speaking to reporters at the three-day valedictory function of Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal (ABKM) meeting of RSS functionaries here.

In response to another question, he welcomed a common civil code in the country, calling it one of the primary demands of the RSS. "Why should a country have different laws for its citizens?" he lamented, adding that "time has come for the country to have a common civil code and the government should implement it without any hesitation".

Joshi said RSS was expecting a favourable verdict in the Ayodhya dispute. "Attempts to find a solution through mediation has been there for a long time but seemingly did not yield result. Otherwise the case would not have gone to court," he pointed out.

Joshi said the abolition of Article 370 and 35A has made the situation conducive for the return of Hindus to the Kashmir Valley who were thrown out of Jammu and Kashmir in the 1990s. "I hope the Hindus who have survived the brutalities will now return to their original roots," he said.

Joshi said RSS has begun taking up rural development work on a massive scale.