The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said on Wednesday that religious conversion and undocumented migrants from neighbouring countries were among the reasons causing “population imbalance” in India.

Hosabale made the comments on the last day of the RSS’ national executive meeting in Prayagraj. While addressing the media, he said that during the four-day event, concern was expressed regarding religious conversion in the country. He added that the RSS believes that people who converted from Hinduism to other religions should not get the benefits of reservation, and called for strict laws preventing such conversions.

“Infiltrators from Bangladesh and other countries have settled in northern Bihar and northeastern states.” Hosabale said. “There have been attempts to stop such migration, but in other states as well their population has increased.”

The RSS leader said that a population policy should be formed and applied uniformly to all communities.

Hosabale also said that existing policies on population control could reduce the number of young persons in the country. “The average size of a family has come down from 3.4 to 1.9 in the last 10-20 years,” Hosabale said. “Due to this, in the coming years, we will see that the population of youth will decrease and the population of the older people will be on rise.”

Hosabale’s comments came weeks after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat called for a “comprehensive population control policy” that applies equally to everyone during his annual Vijayadashmi speech.

According to the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey for 2019-21 India’s total fertility rate declined from 2.2 in 2015-16 to 2.0 in 2019-21, indicating the significant progress of population control measures.