Nagpur, Oct 5 (IANS): Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat has expressed concerns over the population imbalance and said that India has suffered severe consequences of deteriorating population balance in history. He called for a comprehensive policy to check population rise, and underlined the need for all sections of society to abide by it.

Bhagwat said that the balance of population was also getting disturbed due to conversion and infiltration, "which is very worrying".

Addressing RSS Swayamsevaks on the customary Vijayadashami celebration here on Wednesday at the sprawling Reshimbagh ground, Bhagwat said that due to population imbalance, many other countries of the world also broke up and separated from them, East Timor, South Sudan and Kosovo, were formed.

Bhagwat demanded the government should bring a holistic control policy of population. "The population policy should be prepared after serious brainstorming and should be implemented on all. No one should be exempted from this overall policy," he said.

Bhagwat also strongly advocated for women empowerment in the country, and said that men and women are equal in every aspect and respect, have equal potential and capabilities.

Bhagwat pointed out that women, who are regarded as "jagat janani (mother of the universe)", but at home they are treated as "slaves". The empowerment of women should begin at home and they should be given their rightful place in the society, he said.

Bhagwat underlined the importance of women's role in realizing the vision of India once again becoming a 'vishwa guru' (world leader). "If we want to build a vishwa guru Bharat then equal participation of women is also required," he said, and added that changes were also reflected in the society.

The RSS chief was speaking on women empowerment in front of its chief guest, Padma Shri Santosh Yadav, an acclaimed mountaineer, who was invited for the Vijayadashami function, the first woman chief guest for such a programme in the 97-year-old history of RSS.

He reminded that it was not the first time that a woman was invited in the RSS function, the veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister Amrita Kaur and first Lok Sabha member from Nagpur Anusuabai Kale and others were also invited in the RSS programmes.

Bhagwat said that India was fast recovering from the economic crisis due to Covid and and India's role during the Sri Lankan political crisis and also during the Ukraine war was laudable. "Our political weight has gone up in the world due to these two situations, Bhagwat asserted", he said.

The RSS chief said the dialogue with the members of minority communities will continue and it has been going on for years. The violent incidents have been condemned even by the prominent Muslim leaders in the country. "We are in favour of living in peace and harmony," said Bhagwat.