DoPT lifts 58-year-old ban on government servants associating with RSS: Jairam Ramesh

The central government has lifted a 58-year-old ban on government servants working with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its activities through a new memorandum, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has claimed.

On Sunday, Mr. Ramesh posted a photograph of a purported order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on X on July 9. It referred to the earlier memoranda issued on the subject on November 30, 1966, July 25, 1970 and October 28, 1980, and stated that those instructions had been reviewed and it had been decided to delete the mention of “Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSSS)” from the impugned memoranda.

The 1966 document stated: “As certain doubts have arisen about the policy of the Government regarding membership and participation in the activities of the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh and the Jamaat-e-Islami by Government servants, it is clarified that the Government has always considered that the activities of these two organisations were such that participation therein by Government servants would come within the scope of the Rules of Conduct of the Central Civil Service.”

“Any public servant who is a member of or otherwise associated with the aforementioned organisations or their activities is subject to disciplinary action,” the report said.

In his message, Mr. Ramesh said, “Sardar Patel had banned the RSS in February 1948 after the assassination of Gandhiji. Subsequently, the ban was withdrawn on assurances of good conduct. Even after that, the RSS never flew the Tiranga in Nagpur.”

“In 1966, a ban was rightly imposed on government employees from participating in RSS activities. After June 4, 2024, relations between the self-proclaimed non-organic PM and the RSS have gone into overdrive. On July 9, 2024, the 58-year-old ban that was in place even during Mr Vajpayee’s tenure as PM was lifted. The bureaucracy can now also come into its underwear, I think,” he added.