Modi Government Lifts Ban on RSS Members in Civil Services

The Indian bureaucracy is poised to undergo substantial politicization. On July 9, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions issued an office memorandum lifting the 58-year-old ban on Indian government officials participating in the activities of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

“It has been decided to remove the mention of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from the impugned office memorandum dated 30.11.1966, 25.07.1970 and 28.10.1980,” the office order said.

The order was issued quietly. It became public only on July 21 when senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posted the memorandum on X.

The July 9 order means that bureaucrats, police officials, and even judges can be active members of the RSS.

Founded in 1925, the RSS is an unregistered non-government organization. It is the ideological mentor of a family of right-wing organizations, including India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), that espouse Hindutva, a Hindu supremacist ideology.

The RSS has been banned three times in independent India. The first ban came on February 4, 1948, for its role in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The ban was lifted a year later when the RSS agreed to make its commitment to the Indian flag and constitution more explicit and renounce “violent and secret methods” in its constitution. The next ban came in 1975 during Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s emergency rule and was lifted in 1977. Days after the demolition of the Babri Masjid by Sangh Parivar activists on December 6, 1992, the RSS was banned again. When a tribunal ruled that there was no material evidence to justify the ban, it was lifted less than a year later.

The RSS claims to be a socio-cultural organization that is committed to Hindu cultural revival, social work, and nation-building activities. However, it is deeply political.

Its objective is to establish a Hindu state. It campaigns for the BJP in elections and deputes RSS leaders for various positions in the political power structure. For instance, it deputed Modi, an RSS pracharak (propagandist), as chief minister of Gujarat in 2001 and as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate in 2014. Through its various appointees, it influences policy and school curriculums. Importantly, the RSS has polarized Indian society along communal lines, incited anti-Muslim violence, and played a central role in almost every communal riot in the country.

Indian bureaucrats are forbidden from being members of political parties or organizations. This is to ensure that the bureaucracy, the judiciary, and the police are politically neutral. The Central Civil Service Rules of 1964 explicitly forbid membership in political organizations. According to Rule 5(1), “No member of the Service shall be a member of, or be otherwise associated with, any political party or any organization which takes part in politics, nor shall he take part in, or subscribe in aid of, or assist in any other manner, any political movement or political activity.”

Rule 5(4) states: “No member of the Service shall canvas or otherwise interfere with, or use his influence in connection with, or take part in, an election to any legislature or local authority.”

In 1966, the Home Ministry issued an order explicitly forbidding government employees from participating in RSS or Jamaat-e-Islami events. This order was reiterated more strongly in 1970 and 1980.

In its July 9, 2024, order, the government stated, “The aforesaid instructions were reviewed and it was decided to remove the mention of Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (R.S.S.S)” from the impugned memoranda. Significantly, restrictions on officials participating in Jamaat activities remain in place.

Despite rules in place since the mid-1960s forbidding the participation of bureaucrats in political parties, the Indian bureaucracy became increasingly politicized over the decades, with civil servants becoming loyalists of one party or another for personal benefit.

The politicization of the bureaucracy gathered momentum with Modi becoming prime minister in 2014. The RSS’ clout in the government, in policy and decision-making bodies grew, with its members appointed to influential positions.

With the July 9 order, the floodgates have been opened. The number of RSS members entering the bureaucracy, especially via the lateral entry route, will surge. Officials who are RSS members will openly flout their participation in its activities. It will have a devastating impact on the already low confidence of religious minorities in state authorities.

As journalist Akshay Mukul pointed out in a discussion on the online news portal Scroll, given the key role of the RSS in fomenting and unleashing communal violence, how can a person – especially a Muslim – trust their district magistrate or superintendent of police to protect them during a riot if that same official was previously seen participating in RSS shakhas (daily drills)?

Indian civil servants commit to protecting the constitution and upholding its secular and democratic ideals. RSS members pledge to work toward the creation of a Hindu state. So which will a civil servant who is also a member of the RSS prioritize? We must bear in mind that RSS members are soaked in its Hindu supremacist values, having been indoctrinated in the group’s hate of Muslims from a very young age.

Hitherto, on paper at least, the neutrality of the civil services remained an ideal to be adhered to. That will now change with the Modi government putting out the welcome mat for RSS members.