Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale defended the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying voter lists need periodic correction. He said deceased voters and duplicate entries should be removed and cited roughly 13 crore names while arguing that the rolls require review. He said parties could pursue their political agendas in a democracy but should establish the facts before protesting the exercise.
Speaking to reporters in Indore on November 4 after the RSS’s three-day Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal meeting, Hosabale said the presence of non-citizens on voter lists raised economic and social security concerns. He also said he had received an Election Commission notice because his name appeared in his village and at his current residence, though he voted only where he lives.
On Gen Z protests, Hosabale alleged that “anarchic forces” inside and outside India were trying to provoke young people and create unrest. He cautioned against dismissing young protesters as anti-national, saying their concerns and aspirations should be heard through positive dialogue. Recalling his participation in the Jayaprakash Narayan movement as a young man, he said youth anger could be channelled constructively.
Hosabale said democratic regime change must happen through elections, while unrest, social division and violence were not in society’s interest.
He also reiterated the RSS’s support for reservation, saying it should continue until inequality caused by discrimination is addressed. Any changes, he said, should be made in consultation with the communities entitled to its benefits, rather than for electoral gain.

AdvertisementThe Puranic