Not a single Hindu will have to leave the country: RSS chief

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday sought to allay concerns over exclusion of people from the NRC in Assam, assering that not a single Hindu will have to leave the country.

Bhagwat is understood to have made the comment during a closed-door coordination meeting here of the RSS and its affiliate organisations, including the BJP.

"Mohan Bhagwatji has clearly said that not a single Hindu will have to leave this country. He said that Hindus, who came to India after being tortured and persecuted in other nations, will stay," an RSS functionary said after the coordination meet.

The much-awaited updated final National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam was released on August 31, excluding names of over 19 lakh applicants.

According to RSS sources, several leaders present at the meeting also underlined the need for implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in West Bengal before coming out with the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

"In Bengal, CAB will be implemented first, and then the NRC would be brought in. The Hindus in the state don't need to worry about it," a senior leader, who attended the meet, said.

Bhagwat's comments come in the backdrop of concerns raised at the RSS' three-day annual coordination meeting with its affiliates in Rajasthan earlier this month about "several genuine people being left out of the final NRC list in Assam, majority of whom were Hindus".

A BJP delegation led by state president Dilip Ghosh also attended the meeting.

Bhagwat arrived in Kolkata on September 19 to take part in the two-day long coordination meeting.

This is for the first time after the Lok Sabha poll results in Bengal, which witnessed the rise of the BJP with 18 seats, that Bhagwat has chaired a mega meeting in the state.