The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Monday hailed the Narendra Modi government’s decision to lift a decades-old ban on government employees associating with the RSS and its activities.
RSS national publicity in-charge, Sunil Ambekar said that the Sangh has been engaged in the reconstruction of the nation and service of the society for the last 99 years. From national security to national integration and even during the natural calamities, RSS has worked tirelessly to help the people of the country, he said.
He further said that the previous governments had placed a ban on government employees participating in RSS’s activities, “a cultural and social organisation in nature”, due to their political interests.
He added that the current decision of the Central government would establish the rights and democratic system of India.
Sources in the RSS told The Hindu that courts in India, in the past, had ruled that government employees participating in RSS activities can not be ground for transfer or dismissal as the Sangh was not a political party.
“The Congress was harassing the government employees associating with Sangh well before finally placing ban on the same. They placed a formal ban when government employees started approaching courts against their dismissals or disqualification from promotions,” a senior RSS office-bearer said.
Punjab and Haryana High Court Chandigarh had set aside the dismissal of one Ramphal, who was removed from service in 1965 on account of his participation in RSS’s activities. The court noted that there was no material before the government to hold that RSS was a political party.
The Mysore High Court on July 6, 1966, ruled that a government official’s membership in RSS cannot be a disqualification for promotion. The verdict was on a plea filed by Ranganatachar Agnihotri, an assistant government pleader in Raichur district. Here, too, the court maintained that the RSS was a non-political organisation with no ill will towards non-Hindus.
The BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya said the Congress government’s ban on its employees’ participation in RSS work was “unconstitutional”.
“The original order should not have been passed in the first place. The ban was imposed because on 7 Nov 1966, there was a massive anti-cow-slaughter protest at the Parliament. RSS-Jana Sangh mobilised support in lakhs. Many died in police firing. On 30 Nov 1966, shaken by the RSS-Jana Sangh clout, Indira Gandhi banned Govt staff from joining the RSS,” he said on X.
He further claimed that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi herself reached out to the RSS in February 1977, offering to lift the ban she had imposed in exchange for their support for her election campaign.
