“When solutions (to population imbalance) are discussed, it is said there should be a National Register of Citizens,” Ambekar said adding that India’s partition happened due to population imbalance. He argued that in our neighbouring countries that became Islamic states after 1947, many people who were left behind were from SC/ST and economically weaker sections and they continued to face persecution.

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“For those who have come back, ensuring their citizenship through CAA is necessary. Identifying such people through the NRC is necessary. If people have been wrongly included in the voter list, it is necessary to identify them,” he said.

Ambekar said objections to the exercise could be addressed through existing legal mechanisms, including courts, but argued that accepting a non-citizen as a citizen “for purely political reasons” would be wrong.

The RSS leader also sought to frame demographic change as a national security and cultural issue, arguing that India’s demographic changes had a long history and had begun with Muslim invasions. He said population balance was particularly important for India because the country had been partitioned in 1947 on the basis of religion and population.

“Every nation has an identity. If the population of such people who consider the culture of the country as their own remains in equilibrium then the cultural identity of the country is preserved,” he said, adding that preserving India’s culture could not be described as communal.

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Ambekar also criticised successive governments for not formulating what he described as a “concrete policy” on population and Census after Independence. He said population control had been presented as a solution to India’s problems, particularly before the Emergency, but a comprehensive population policy was not framed until the National Population Commission was set up in 2000 under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

He also linked what he called demographic imbalance to differences in the legal framework after Independence. Referring to the absence of a uniform law on marriage, the interpretation of Articles 29 and 30 relating to educational institutions, and population-control provisions applicable to local body elections, he argued that policies framed in the name of secularism had contributed to disparities.

“Some people were allowed to have four marriages. There was no such law before Indpendence. But Hindus were told that more than one marriage would be punishable. The law should be uniform,” AMbekar said.

Ambekar also criticised the handling of illegal immigration, referring to the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983, which was eventually struck down by the Supreme Court after a prolonged movement against it in Assam. He alleged ignoring illegal immigration was part of the policy framed under the idea of secularism.

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The RSS has for years maintained that a nationwide NRC should be carried out. In 2019, then RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi had said it was the government’s responsibility to prepare an NRC to identify those who were not Indian citizens. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat subsequently said in 2021 that the NRC was intended to determine who were genuine citizens and should not be viewed as a Hindu-Muslim issue.

The issue had largely receded from the political agenda after nationwide protests against the CAA and the proposed NRC in 2019-20. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in December 2019 that his government had not discussed the NRC since coming to power, while the BJP subsequently dropped the proposal from its 2024 election manifesto.

However, the NRC question has acquired renewed relevance with the Census exercise. The current Census questionnaire contains several questions that were also part of the 2020 NPR schedule, including nationality and details of parents, Aadhaar and voter ID. The statutory framework provides for verification of the Population Register for preparation of the National Register of Indian Citizens, including identification of cases where citizenship may be considered doubtful.

There is, however, currently no government notification announcing a nationwide NRC. The NPR exercise that had been scheduled alongside the 2021 Census was postponed during the Covid-19 pandemic and was not re-notified when the Census process was revived.