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Ban on govt employees joining RSS activities lifted; Congress questions order

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh highlights the historical context of the ban, imposed after Mahatma Gandhi's assassination and maintained since 1966

File photo of an RSS march
File photo of an RSS march National Herald archives

The Congress on Sunday, 21 July, drew attention to a purported central government order from 9 July that claims to have lifted a ban on government employees' active participation in RSS activities.

While the veracity of the purported government order, which was posted on X by Congress leaders, could not be ascertained immediately, BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya himself 'owned' it, sharing the screenshot of the order and posting on X that an "unconstitutional" directive issued 58 years ago has been withdrawn by the Modi government.

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Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh also shared the same memorandum, dated 9 July, issued by the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pension. It does seem to pertain to the participation of government servants in the activities of the RSS. It reads:

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The undersigned is directed to refer to the OM (office memorandum) dated 30.11.1966, OM No. 7/4/70-Est.(B) dated 25.07.1970 and OM No. 15014/3(S)/80-Estt.(B) dated 28.10.1980 on the above subject.
2. The aforesaid instructions have been reviewed and it has been decided to remove the mention of Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (R.S.S.S) from the impugned OMs dated 30.11.1966, 25.07.1970 and 28.10.1980.

In his post with the order pictured, Ramesh said: 'Sardar Patel had banned the RSS in February 1948 following Gandhi-ji's assassination. Subsequently, the ban was withdrawn on assurances of good behaviour. Even after this the RSS never flew the tiranga in Nagpur.'

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In 1966, a ban was imposed, Ramesh said, on government employees taking part in RSS activities — and rightly so.

'After 4 June 2024, relations between the self-anointed non-biological PM and the RSS have nosedived. On 9 July 2024, the 58-year ban that was in force even during Mr Vajpayee's tenure as PM was removed,' he added.

'The bureaucracy can now come in knickers too I suppose,' Ramesh said, alluding to the RSS uniform of khaki shorts, which was replaced by brown trousers in 2016.

The Congress leader also shared a screenshot of the original order dated 30 November 1966, which bans the association of government servants with the activities of the RSS and the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Tagging the 9 July order, BJP's Amit Malviya for his part held the original order shouldn't have been passed in the first place.

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