Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) president and Member of Parliament Thol. Thirumavalavan has approached the Madras High Court with a plea to recall its September 22 order permitting route march (procession) by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) members in 49 places across the State on October 2.
In his affidavit, the MP said Mahatama Gandhi was shot dead by a former RSS member, Nathuram Godse, and claimed that the organisation celebrated the assassination. Therefore, it was very unfair on the part of the organisation to have decided to take out the route march on Gandhi Jayanthi day, he said.
He pointed out that the RSS had told the court that it had decided to take out the march to celebrate its foundation day which falls on Vijayadasami, the 75th year of Independence and the birth centenary of B.R. Ambedkar. However, he accused the RSS of having actually sided with the British during the colonial rule.
He claimed that in the 1940s, the RSS had prohibited its members from participating in the Quit India movement against the British empire and alleged that the prime agenda of the organisation was to create communal disharmony. He also accused it of having involved in various communal riots in the country.
Asserting that Dr. Ambedkar was against the ideologies of RSS, the MP lamented that in the last few years, fictional narratives had begun to emerge portraying Ambedkar’s ideological camaraderie with RSS leaders. “Ambedkar’s views of Islam are similarly invoked out of context to project him as an anti-Muslim Dalit icon,” he added.
Though the High Court had granted permission for the meet by imposing several conditions, the MP feared that the participants would not obey those conditions and would act high handedly to disrupt public order and create enmity between groups. He insisted that the court order should be recalled taking into account the antecedents of RSS.
Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan had granted the permission on September 22 after senior counsel G. Rajagopal, representing the RSS office-bearers, told the court that the route march was an annual event conducted across the country on the closest Sunday to Vijayadasami. “This year the closest Sunday falls on October 2,” he had told the court.
The conditions imposed by the judge stated that the participants in the march should not sing songs or speak ill about any individual, caste or religion and that they should not indulge in any act disturbing the sovereignty and integrity of the country. The participants were also banned from carrying sticks, lathis or any other weapon.
