SILCHAR: RSS supremo Mohanrao Bhagwat criticized 'western' lifestyle of people in urban areas and said, without empirical evidence to back such a claim, that rape is prevalent mainly in cities where Indians are deeply influenced by western values and not by rural India. Various women's NGOs and even police records suggest rapes in rural areas largely go unreported.

Addressing a citizens' meet here on Tuesday during his four-day visit to Silchar, Bhagwat said, "Such crimes hardly take place in 'Bharat', but they occur frequently in 'India'.

"You go to villages and forests of the country and there will be no such incidents of gang-rape or sex crimes. They are prevalent in some urban belts. Besides new legislations, Indian ethos and attitude towards women should be revisited in the context of ancient Indian values," Bhagwat said.

The RSS, he said, was for stringent laws against rape and would welcome new legislation on sex crimes and favour capital punishment for those convicted of rape.

Saying that the RSS backed the chorus across the country demanding death penalty for those responsible for the December 16 gang rape of 23-year-old Nirbhaya , who died on December 29 , Bhagwat said this needed to be backed by stringent laws. He also slammed the government for applying force against the protesters at Delhi's Vijay Chowk.

On Assam, Bhagwat said illegal infiltrators from Bangladesh are now in a position to dictate the politics of the state. He said such elements have been sneaking in through a porous international border, threatening the security and integrity of India. But, the RSS chief said, Assam would never become another Kashmir.

"We've been passing through a time when the country's border is not secure, and people are suffering from insecurity and price rise. There's seems no rescue from such situation," Bhagwat said.

He said Hindus taking shelter in India from Bangladesh and Pakistan can't be called infiltrators. "Hindus should always be treated on humanitarian ground. They can't become 'doubtful' voters. Many Hindus from Pakistan who took shelter in India were granted citizenship. This should be done in case of Hindus who came to India from neighbouring Bangladesh as well," the RSS leader said.