Row over Cong promise to restrict RSS activities in MP
RSS responds to manifesto, says grand old party scared of cultural outfit
BHOPAL: The Congress pledge to revoke a 2006 order allowing Madhya Pradesh government employees to participate in the shakhas (gatherings) of Bharatiya Janata Party’s parent organisation, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), if it comes to power in the state has led to a war of words between the two sides.
While the Congress said it mentioned this in its manifesto for the state because the RSS was not a cultural organisation, the Sangh responded by saying that generations of Congressmen were scared of the RSS.
In the manifesto released on Saturday, the Congress also promised to ban the use of government buildings for holding shakhas.
The chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, where the Congress has been out of power since 2013, issued an order allowing government employees to participate in the shakhas.
“We will ban the holding of RSS shakhas on the government premises and revoke the order allowing government employees and officers to attend RSS shakhas,” the manifesto said.
Congress spokesman Bhupendra Gupta defended the pledges, citing an October 1980 Union government order banning the participation of the central government employees in RSS activities. He said service conduct rules prevent the government employee from being part of any political party. Gupta added that it is only in Madhya Pradesh that the BJP government passed the order allowing its employees to take part in RSS shakhas. Congress leader Manak Agrawal said there is “very little doubt” that the RSS is a political organisation with reference to its insistence on being a purely cultural outfit. “Its (RSS) members constantly comment on political developments and its cadre directly helps the BJP and many have dual membership.”
BJP spokesman Rajneesh Agrawal maintained the RSS is a social and cultural organisation. He said the courts have accepted it. “By raising this issue, the Congress is trying to project that RSS as anti-minority and trying to instill fear among the minorities and consolidate its vote bank.” He did not elaborate which courts was he referring to and how is it related to minorities.
In Delhi, RSS prachar pramukh (publicity chief) Rajiv Tuli said that no one can stop anyone, including government employees from visiting a shakha. “Even the courts in the past have ruled that there can be no ban imposed on anyone from attending a shakha,’’ he said. “In the past, some Congress leaders made statements that they will not allow shakhas to come up. We have seen what the party has been reduced to today. Why has the Congress from (first prime minister Jawaharlal) Nehru to (its chief) Rahul Gandhi been scared of the RSS?”
Former HS Gaur University (Sagar) political science department head GP Nema said the Congress’s contention that the RSS is not a social and cultural organisation has been there for decades. “It is fact that the RSS does influence the BJP policies. But it is equally true that the RSS is a social and cultural organisation.”