Tamil Nadu: A video that went ‘viral’ of a group of men reportedly belonging to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) conducting training within the premises of a corporation (civic body) school at RS Puram near Coimbatore on October 9 has created yet another controversy in Tamil Nadu. The school headmaster has been sent a show cause notice. The RSS claimed it did not conduct any training inside the school and the volunteers were involved only in cleaning activity.
It was the members of Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) that staged a protest in front of the school and raised slogans against corporation officials for allegedly providing permission for the RSS event, reported The Indian Express. Police personnel were deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
General secretary of the TPDK K Ramakrishnan, said: “The government should immediately take action against the concerned officials. The government should take measures to prevent such camps of RSS from taking place anywhere at corporation schools or public places in the future.” The issue was and is the grant of permission for such a training within the school.
Commissioner of the Coimbatore Corporation, M Prathap told the. Indian Express that the civic body does not grant permission for any social, political or religious gathering in schools and also added that it is investigating the incident. He added that the school headmaster was sent a show cause notice in connection to the incident.
Further, the RS Puram police registered a case against the people who allegedly trespassed into the school premises.
Meanwhile, the RSS, quick to have a defence, claimed it did not conduct any training inside the school. “No shakha (branch meeting) was held and the volunteers were involved only in cleaning activity and it is part of our annual seva event where volunteers clean public places and other institutions,” IE Tamil quoted an RSS member as saying.
RSS in Tamil Nadu
In fact, the past few weeks have seen several attempts by the RSS to establish itself in the public sphere within Dravidian Tamil Nadu. In fact, on October 2, to commemorate the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) took out a massive rally in Puducherry.
A day after the Tamil Nadu government denied permission to the RSS to hold a rally on October 2, the Madras high court on Friday, September 30, said the rally can be held on November 6. The week before the high court had directed the state government to grant permission to the RSS to hold a rally on October 2. After the RSS was denied permission, despite the Madras High Court giving its nod for a rally, a contempt of court petition was moved. The petition was moved by Karthikeyan, joint secretary of RSS’s Thiruvallur unit, and hearing the same,
Widely reported in the media, including the Hindustan Times and the Indian Express, however, the government then approached the court, seeking a revision of the original order, citing intelligence reports from central agencies indicating potential law and order problems. Meanwhile, the RSS’s Tiruvallur joint secretary R Karthikeyan also filed a contempt petition against officials and police for not granting permission for the rally despite the earlier court order.
The Madras high court finally directed Tamil Nadu police to grant permission to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for a march across 49 locations on November 6 and threatened to initiate contempt action against authorities if they violated the order.
A day before, on September 29, the state government had declined to grant permission for the march – initially scheduled for October 2 – even as a single judge bench of the court on September 22 gave its nod, with certain riders. October 2 is the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The DMK-led state government refused to allow the march citing law-and-order concerns, in the wake of recent violence which erupted after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI) on September 22 and 27 and arrested several of its members.
Justice G K Ilanthiraiyan, who had passed the order on the rally last month, was listening to a contempt of court petition by R Karthikeyan, joint secretary of RSS’s Thiruvallur unit, on September 30, when it directed the state government and police to give permission and inform the court about the same by October 31. In his petition, Karthikeyan pointed out that denial of permission to hold the march was an act of contempt against the high court order.
Courtesy: Sabrang India
