Raising questions on the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Monday said its “shortcomings” should be removed and all Bangladeshi infiltrators who had found a place in it on the basis of forged documents should be excluded.

At its annual coordination meeting in Rajasthan’s pilgrim town, senior members of the RSS and its affiliate groups expressed concern over the “genuine citizens”, majority of them from the Hindu community, being left out of the NRC. A large number of the 19 lakh people excluded from the register were Hindus, said the RSS office-bearers.

While asking the government to rectify the NRC list before moving forward, the RSS affirmed that cultural assimilation in the border areas of north-eastern and western States had led to “forcible conversion” of people to Christianity and Islam.

RSS Sah-Sarakaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale told reporters on the final day of the coordination meeting that though the NRC was a “very complex issue” because of a large number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh settled in Assam, the government had to comply with the Supreme Court’s direction to complete the exercise in a stipulated time.

Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Ram Madhav, who is the party’s in-charge for the north-eastern States, spoke at the conclave about the NRC exercise carried out in Assam. BJP working president J.P. Nadda and top functionaries of the RSS, led by its chief Mohan Bhagwat, attended the three-day meeting.

Mr. Hosabale said the RSS believed that reservation in employment and education should continue as long as there were disparities in the society.

“It is for the beneficiaries to decide how long should the quota system continue... It is mandated by the Constitution,” he said.

Laying emphasis on Hindutva and cultural nationalism, the RSS leader said the temples, cremation grounds and water reservoirs should be accessible equally to all castes of the Hindu community. However, reservation was not on the meeting’s agenda and it did not come up for deliberations.

According to the sources, Mr. Nadda made a presentation on the Centre’s decision to revoke the special status to Jammu and Kashmir and apprised the participants of the situation in the Kashmir Valley. The Ram temple construction in Ayodhya and national security, with the resolve to identify “internal elements” creating trouble, also came up for discussions.

Mr. Hosabale said the nationalist Muslims should come forward to get rid of suspicion often created about the education imparted in madrasas. “The Uttar Pradesh government had last year made it mandatory for madrasas to celebrate Independence Day by hoisting the tricolour and singing national anthem. Nobody should have objection to such orders.”

Asked about the house arrest of mainstream political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr. Hosabale said it was “perfectly justified”, because unlike during the Emergency, it was in the national interest. He said the abrogation of Article 370 would pave the way for a new round of development in the Kashmir Valley.

The closed-door conclave, which was kept out of bounds for the media, was the first one held after the BJP's victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The previous coordination meeting was organised last year at Mantralayam, a pilgrim village situated in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh.