In a major vindication for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Madhya Pradesh High Court ruled on 25th July that Office Memorandums (OMs) passed by the Congress government in the years 1966, 1970 and 1980 to ban RSS was “arbitrary” and lacked any substantial material to conclude that the association of government employees with RSS should be banned for the sake of India’s communal fabric and secular character.
The Division Bench comprising Justices Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Gajendra Singh ruled that executive-framed official memorandums cannot prohibit RSS membership since they are not the law of the land under Article 13(3)(a).
“The moratorium on joining RSS must preferably be by way of the Conduct rules only and not through executive framed Official Memorandums, as it results in infringement of precious fundamental rights of not only the Central Government employees as the citizens of the country, but also members and office bearers of the organisation serving the country as part of RSS. OMs do not constitute a ‘law’ issued under Article 13(3)(a) of the Constitution of India, more so when they are issued on a piece of paper by the subordinate officers of the Central Government purportedly in the name of the sovereign”, the court said.
The court also said that even though the Central Government during the pendency of the present writ petition has decided to review and remove the name of RSS from the list of ‘don’t join’ organisations, the court holds that any such exercise of proposing and restoring its name in the of ‘don’t join’ list ever in future must be preceded by a profound thought process, intensive deliberations backed by substantial material and evidence that indicates why RSS and its subsidiaries should be banned from participation by any of the Central Government employee.
“Other than political, why its religious, social, educational, health-related community services also invite a similar treatment to be also delved deep into, before holding the same to be a facet of misconduct under Rule 5 of the CCS Rules, 1964,” the court order reads.
The court also commented extensively on the apolitical nature of the work performed by RSS and its umbrella groups and NGOs, as well as how the Central Governments were wrong in including it on the “don’t join” list.
“The issuance of the OMs painting the whole universe of even the apolitical activities of RSS as communal, anti-secular and against national interest is a decision having drastic consequences, not only for the organisation but also everybody aspiring to associate with it with the noble interest of rendering community & public service,” the court said.
The High Court made these observations while hearing the plea of a retired central government employee Purushottam Gupta seeking permission to join the RSS. Gupta, through his counsel Manish Nair had moved High Court in September 2023. In his plea, Gupta contended that the rules that stopped him from joining the RSS were “an impediment for him to gratify his desires at the dusk of his life”.
Notably, petitioner Purushottam Gupta has also challenged the constitutional legality of subrules 12, 12A, and 13 of Rule 5 of the CCS(Conduct), 1965, arguing that they are extra vires as it include the RSS.
It is pertinent to mention that on the 10th of July, a day after the Modi government issued a notification dropping the RSS as a political party with which government officials cannot be linked, the Union of India submitted an affidavit in this court informing it of the order.
MP High Court questions on what basis RSS was placed on “don’t join” list
The Madhya Pradesh High Court raised the question of any empirical data, survey or any sort of report suggesting that the activities of RSS and its subsidiaries precipitate “communal bias” or that the involvement of government employees in RSS activities could be deemed “anti-secular” was relied on before placing RSS on the “don’t join” list. Expressing displeasure over the failure of the Union of India (UoI) to file a reply in this regard despite repeated inquiries, the court observed that there was no such material evidence that the governments that banned RSS in 1966, 1970, and 1980, relied on to decide that central government employees should be barred from partaking in RSS activities to uphold the communal fabric and secular character of the country.
“…perhaps there was never any material, study, survey or report at the relevant point of time based on which the ruling dispensation arrived at a satisfaction that involvement and engagement of central government employees even with the apolitical/non-political activities of RSS must be banned for maintaining the communal fabric and secular character of the country,” the court said.
Notably, on the 6th of May, the court expressed its dismay that the case had been pending for ten months since the Union of India had not filed a response to Gupta’s petition. On the 22nd of May Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta appeared via video conferencing before the court, requesting time to file a response.
Coming back to the final order dated 25th July further stated that on 5 different dates during the hearing of Purushottam Gupta’s petition, they questioned the basis of issuance of the impugned circulars/ OMs that “handcuffed the freedom of lakhs of Central Government employees of the country for almost five decades from the 1960s till 2024.”
In its order, the court listed three questions that arose in their mind. The first was whether any compelling material, survey or study was taken into account suggesting that RSS should be included in the “don’t join” list and if such material actually existed or the decision was solely based on the ipse dixit of the relevant Central governments to crush an organisation ideologically opposed to them. In simple words, “ipse dixit” means any assertion or statement made by someone based solely on their authority, without any supporting evidence whatsoever.
In its second question, the court asked whether the requirement of continuing RSS in the “don’t join” list was periodically reviewed and the desirability examined frequently to retain such prohibition for all the Central government.
Thirdly, the court asked if indeed certain material, survey or study was relied on to put RSS in the “don’t join” list, then whether the current Central government considered any fresh material before removing RSS from the list “overnight”.
The court observed that if any material or evidence has been collected before removing RSS from the list of “don’t join” organisations then in future, the government must take into consideration compelling reasons backed by data to push RSS back into the list. If RSS is re-added to the list otherwise, then it will “plainly play foul of Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution of India of the concerned employee, who has emotional and ideological alignment with the RSS.”
MP High Court highlights the social, educational and philanthropic activities of the RSS
The court noted that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is the only nationally established self-driven voluntary organisation outside the governmental bureaucratic hierarchy attracting the highest membership from various districts across the country actively partaking in “religious, social, educational, health and many apolitical activities, under its umbrella, which have no pertinence to political activities of RSS.” The court noted that the majority of the activities of RSS are not related to politics but varied social arenas. For this, the court cited the example of Rashtriya Seva Bharti (RSB), which works to “organise a peer group with nationalist thoughts and patriotic sentiments under one umbrella”.
The court also mentioned Saraswati Shishu Mandirs, “where lakhs of students from impoverished backgrounds receive primary and higher secondary education”. The court also highlighted the social and philanthropic facet of RSS saying that its field volunteers 11 actively engage in large-scale rehabilitation, resettlement, and disaster management support programs, especially the flood relief support being provided nowadays in many States. “Even this social and philanthropic wing of RSS may not identify itself with its political face, but concerns only with the philanthropic face of the organisation,” the court said.
“…that membership of RSS per se may not aim at or drive oneself always to the involvement in the political activities of the organisation, much less being engaged in communal or anti-national or anti-secular activities,” the court observed.
The court emphasised that RSS and its sister organisations undertake several apolitical activities purely out of community service without any political ambitions.
“It took five decades for Centre to realise its mistake in banning RSS”: MP High Court blasts Centre
After pointing out the vast contributions of RSS in nation-building through its apolitical activities, the court, though not involving RSS, mentioned several past cases to observe that “voluntary membership of a national & internationally famed organisation like RSS, for activities other than political in nature, like religious, social, philanthropic, educational cannot be proscribed through executive instructions.”
Furthermore, the Madhya Pradesh High Court bench sitting in Indore lamented the fact that it took five decades for the Centre to rectify the mistake of the erstwhile Congress government of wrongly placing an internationally famed organisation like RSS on the list of banned organisations. Moreover, justices S.A. Dharmadhikari and Gajendra Singh said that the aspirations of numerous central government employees were “diminished” due to this arbitrary ban.
“The Court also laments the fact that it took almost five decades for the Central Government to realise its mistake; to acknowledge that an internationally renowned organisation like RSS was wrongly placed amongst the banned organisations of the country and that its removal therefrom is quintessential. Aspirations of many central government employees to serve the countries in many ways, therefore got diminished in these five decades because of this ban, which was removed only when it was brought to the notice of this Court vide the present proceedings,” the High Court bench said.
To raise awareness about the removal of RSS from the list of ‘don’t join’ organisations, the Department of Personnel and Training and the Ministry of Home Affairs, GOI has been directed by the court to post the contents of a recently issued circular on the Home Page of their official websites. Within nine days, the circular shall be distributed to all relevant ministries and undertakings of the Central Government, the court said.
Modi government lifted the 58-year-old RSS ban and how RSS Swayamsevaks were persecuted for years by Congress
As reported earlier, the Modi government lifted a 58-year-old ban on government employees participating in the activities of RSS on 9th July 2024. This prohibition was enacted in November 1966 during the tenure of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Notably, the 1966 banning order by the Indira Gandhi government came right after the RSS-backed Cow Protection/ Anti-Cow Slaughter Movement on 7th November 1966.
OpIndia reported how Congress hounded people who were actively associated with RSS or had participated in its activities in the past were prevented from joining government jobs or were removed from their posts. The authorities used to stop candidates from joining government services after it turned out during police verification that they had or had in the past, links with RSS.
