Kharge Slams Centre for Lifting Ban on Govt Employees’ RSS Links, Demands Reversal

By A Staff Reporter

New Delhi: Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday strongly criticised the Modi government’s decision to lift the decades-old restriction on government employees participating in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activities, demanding that the move be revoked immediately.

Kharge said the decision, taken on July 9, 2024, ended a 58-year-old prohibition that had been in place to maintain the neutrality of the civil services and protect the secular character of the Indian state. “On 9th July 2024, the Modi government lifted the 58-year-old ban on government employees participating in RSS activities. We demand that this be set aside,” Kharge said in New Delhi.

He reminded that the RSS had earlier been banned by India’s first Home Minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, in the aftermath of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. “The organisation was banned by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,” Kharge noted, accusing the present government of eroding institutional impartiality.