Several eyebrows were raised over the Chief Minister’s appeal. The state unit of the CPI deplored the call and submitted a memo to the Governor seeking his intervention. The CPM expressed the view that the call amounted to the subversion of the Constitution.

Critics point out that the government servants were barred from joining any political party. They were also not allowed to participate in any political activity and write or publicly speak on any political issue. Though the RSS does not directly participate in politics and hence cannot, technically, be called a political party but for all practical purposes, it acts and behaves like a political outfit.

The BJP and its earlier incarnation—the Janasangh—were constituted by the RSS to undertake political activities on its behalf. The Janasangh and the BJP are only two of the various organisations fathered by the RSS to spread its message and pursue its cause in various spheres of life. These organisations are collectively called the “Sangh Parivar” and the RSS is the undisputed patriarch of this extended family. The Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad works among the tribal people, the ABVP among the students, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh among the workers, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh among the peasants and so on.

The RSS sends its senior functionaries on “deputation” to these organisations and it is their writ which runs in these bodies. The BJP works under the guidance of “organisational secretaries”, who are hardcore RSS pracharaks. The organisational secretaries are appointed right from the All India level up to the district units.

Balraj Madhok, the second President of the Janasangh had objected to the imposition of organisational secretaries on the party. His objection was overruled and subsequently, he was shown the door. It is a well-known fact that the RSS exercises direct and firm control over the BJP. The high-level functionaries of the party as well as the Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states are appointed with the concurrence of the RSS. The RSS’ role in the constitution of the NDA ministry is too well known to be repeated. The very fact that it is not the RSS functionaries who call on BJP Chief Ministers but it is the latter who wait on the former is an ample proof –if any is needed---that who calls the shots. It was not very long back that LK Advani had to give up the Presidentship of the party when the RSS found his comments on Jinnah unpalatable. The RSS leaders often issue statements and make comments vis a vis political issues.

The RSS was outlawed after the murder of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. Post-ban, the then RSS Sarsanghchalak MS Golwalkar repeatedly pleaded with the Government of India to revoke the ban. In response, the then Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Vallabh Bhai Patel asked the RSS to first clarify what the organisation stood for and also draft a Constitution. The RSS complied with Sardar Patel’s directives. It drafted a Constitution, which declared it to be cultural organisation. It also gave an undertaking that it would scrupulously refrain from taking part in politics.

However, the RSS never intended to say goodbye to politics.. It found a way of dabbling into politics by floating the “Bharatiya Janasangh”. As years passed by, the RSS became bolder and bolder and made it crystal clear that it had its own brand of politics, which it intended to practice via the Janansangh.

The RSS calls itself a cultural organisation but one has never heard of any dance, drama or music festival having been organised by it. Neither does any RSS functionary strive to excel in any field of culture. There is no writer, poet, painter or sculptor among the RSS top brass. The truth is that “culture” is the façade behind which RSS is pursuing its goal of building a Hindu rashtra. The RSS openly supports BJP candidates during elections and its workers are made in charge of polling booths. One of the prime reasons for BJP’s ascendance in the political field is the selfless and dedicated support extended to it by the committed RSS cadres.

Our Constitution provides for a permanent executive—as distinct from the political executive. The objective is to entrust the job of implementing government policies and programmers and even conducting elections to a band of politically neutral employees and officers. Once government employees start joining the RSS, the political neutrality of the government machinery would get buried fathoms deep. And this is bound to strike at the very roots of Parliamentary democracy.

While calling upon the government employees to join the RSS, the Chief Minister turned to Bhagwat and informed him with obvious pride that his government had lifted the ban on government employees joining the RSS. Such moves are fraught with grave consequences and should be reversed forthwith, most neutral observers feel. (IPA Service)