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April      Last updated: April  8,  5:00 p.m.

Why a hue and cry over RSS now?

R.B.L. Nigam

IT makes one upset to see the Opposition including the Congress party wasting the precious time of the Parliament over the issue of Gujarat government lifting the ban, imposed by the Congress in 1986 on government servants joining the RSS.

For almost 15 days, the work in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha was stalled by the Opposition costing the nation more than Rs 30 crore. It would have been better if this amount was spent on the betterment of the nation or to the poors of the country instead of wasting in such a manner.

This means that the issue is the only a wisp of hey by which they expect to either bring the BJP-led government down or at least divide the alliance. The regret is not only for the precious time of Parliament, but also for a rudderless leadership of the Congress oblivious of its duties.

The leadership of Congress did its best to whip up RSS-phobia. But the same Congress is a mute witness to how the CPI(M) in West Bengal installed its "cadre raj".

In 1980, during its first term in office, the CPI(M) amended the service rules for its government employees. The original rule formulated in 1959, was clear : "No government employee shall be a member of or be otherwise associated with any political party or organization which takes part in politics, nor shall he take part in, subscribe in aid of, or assist in any manner to any political movement or activity."

According to a report in The Indian Express, the Marxist cleverly introduced amendments and divided them into rights and duties. The duties clause stated : "Each government employee shall in the discharge of his duties rise above all personal, political and other considerations and maintain integrity, impartiality and devotion to duty."

"But it was the rights clause where politics was sneaked in. It gave each government employee the right to form associations/unions/federative bodies and full trade union rights, including the right to strike."

Armed with these amendements, the CPI(M) in West Bengal mastered the art of running a government in which thousands of its employees were linked with associations and organisations openly patronized by them. Having taken care of state government employees, it was the police force that was also given the go-ahead to form associations in mid 1980s.

"The rules that govern the administration-party nexus are blatant but couched in complex networks. For example, when Arabinda Ghosh, a government employee retired, he was instantly inducted into the party's state committee and subsequently sent to the Rajya Sabha. ‘No one can get such important portfolios in the Marxist hierarchy had he not served the party for a long time’."

"An important party functionary in Salt Lake is an employee of the State Food Department. Another class II government officer is a known full time party member. In fact, as many as 3,500 state government employees are said to have full time party membership.

"As per the party's internal arrangements, the government employee-members are supposed to pay levy to the tune of six per cent of their earnings every month to the party coffers."

For thousands of State staff in West Bengal, the route to the CPI(M) runs via the Coordination Committee of State Government Employees. It is an open secret that this organization remote-controls all postings and transfers and openly lends support to all CPI(M) programmes.

When CPI(M) in mid-1980s had changed service rules so that State Government employees could participate in politics, especially in CPI(M), now it, along with others, are crying foul of permitting government employees participating in RSS activities by Gujarat Government.

If any government employee participates in any non-RSS function he is called secular and on joining any RSS activity which is always nation-building, social and cultural, he is branded as communal. When the RSS never indulges in any anti-nation activity, the removal of the restriction is fully justified. Its constitution is so wide and clear which needs no evidence to prove, time and again, its faithfulness to the nation. It eats, drinks and thinks for the development and prosperity of the motherland and nothing else.