RSS general secretary defends SIR, says regime change must come through ballots, not unrest

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Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on Wednesday (November 4, 2026) said that “anarchic forces”, both within India and outside, were trying to provoke the country’s youth with the aim of creating unrest. Regime change, he said, must take place through elections and not violence.

Mr. Hosabale was speaking to the media at the conclusion of the Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal meeting, which began in Indore on Monday (November 2, 2026). He said Sangh members had extensively discussed the anger among young people over genuine issues such as unemployment and paper leaks.

“This is a democracy and governments change through elections. Whatever political goals people may have in wanting a change of government but stirring unrest in society, dividing people or turning to violence does not serve society’s interest,” Mr. Hosabale said.

Citing the 2025 Gen Z movement in Nepal which brought the government down, Mr. Hosabale said that forces were trying to provoke people from within the country as well as from outside. “Going by what other countries have experienced, it seems there may also be a conspiracy behind this,” he added.

He stressed that young people’s grievances should be addressed through dialogue.

“Positive dialogue with the new generation is needed. We should explain things to them.... There was a time when we were Gen Z; even we used to protest and raise our voices for things we thought were incorrect. We were part of the JP movement. We were the youth of that era,” Mr. Hosabale said.

Responding to a question about the RSS’s views on the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, Mr. Hosabale said he was puzzled by the political uproar over a process he described as a “routine exercise”.

“There are people who are dead but their names exist in our poll records. Don’t you want it to be corrected? There are cases where one person’s name is there at two places,” he said, citing his own example. He claimed that he had never voted in his hometown but had voted in places where he had lived for decades.

He also said that non-citizens had found their way onto voter lists, which he described as a threat to economic and social security.

Sharing the Sangh’s views on reservation, Mr. Hosabale said it remained necessary to address inequality created by discrimination in society. It should continue until those benefiting from it felt that equality had actually been achieved.

Any change to the arrangement, he said, should be made in consultation with the beneficiaries. He also stressed that reservation was a matter of social welfare and not a political tool.

“Its purpose is to heal a historical injustice, and it should not be used for electoral gain,” he added.

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