Centre removes decades-old ban on government staff joining RSS, claim Congress leaders

A 58-year-old ban on the association of government staffers with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was lifted by the Centre earlier this month, Congress leaders Pawan Khera and Jairam Ramesh claimed on Sunday.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindutva group, is the parent organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Ramesh and Khera shared on social media an office memorandum issued by the Department of Personnel and Training on July 9, concerning the “participation of the government servants in the activities of RSS”.

The document referred to earlier office memoranda on the subject that were issued on November 30, 1966, July 25, 1970, and October 28, 1980.

“The aforesaid instructions were reviewed and it was decided to remove the mention of Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (R.S.S.S)” from the impugned memoranda, the document shared by the Congress leaders stated.

A copy of the order was not available on the department’s website as of Monday morning.

According to The Hindu, the November 1966 office memorandum had said: “As certain doubts have been raised about the government’s policy with respect to the membership of and participation in the activities of the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh and the Jamaat-e-Islami by government servants, it is clarified that government have always held the activities of these two organisations to be of such a nature...

Read more