BJP, RSS and the Congress on Monday locked horns over the Centre’s move to lift the ban on Government employees from participating in activities of the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh  (RSS)  with the BJP and RSS saying the decision would strengthen the country’s democratic system, the grand old party which had actually banned the organisation saying the order passed by the Narendra Modi Government has withdrawn an order which was in place even during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s regime.

Several Opposition leaders also criticised the move. BJP accused the earlier regimes of furthering their own political interests by imposing the ban in the past.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal said the Congress Government’s decision in 1966 to ban Government employees from attending RSS activities was driven by political reasons. “Congress has always had a negative mindset for nationalist organisatons, and such a thinking has no place in the country,” Goyal told the media.

Opposition parties, which have criticised the Modi Government’s decision to lift the ban, were only interested in appeasement politics and have displayed a negative attitude to Hindus, he claimed. Goyal described the RSS as a nationalist organisation whose members are full of patriotism.

RSS spokesperson Sunil Ambekar said in a statement, “The present decision of the Government is appropriate and strengthens the democratic system of India.” RSS has been continuously involved in the reconstruction of the nation and service to the society for the last 99 years, he added.

“Due to the contribution of the Sangh in national security, unity-integrity and taking the society along during times of natural disaster, various types of leadership of the country have also praised the role of the Sangh from time to time.

Due to its political interests, the then Government had baselessly banned the Government employees from participating in the activities of a constructive organisation like the Sangh,” the statement said. There have been multiple instances of the Government barring its employees in the past from associating with the RSS.

BSP chief Mayawati termed the Centre’s order removing the ban on the participation of Government employees in RSS activities a politically motivated move to “appease” the organisation and demanded its immediate withdrawal.

“The Centre’s decision to lift the 58-year-old ban on Government employees from attending RSS shakhas is a politically motivated move to appease the RSS rather than serving the national interest. This is to ease the tensions that intensified between the two after the Lok Sabha elections over Government policies and their arrogant attitudes,” Mayawati said in a social media post.

Congress chief spokesman Jairam Ramesh slammed the central Government over the order as he first shared it issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension dated July 9 pertaining to the participation of the Government servants in the activities of the RSS.

“Sardar Patel had banned the RSS in February 1948 following Gandhiji’s assassination. Subsequently, the ban was withdrawn on assurances of good behaviour. Even after this the RSS never flew the Tiranga in Nagpur. In 1966, a ban was imposed - and rightly so - on Government employees taking part in RSS activities,” Ramesh said.

AIMIM chief and MP Asaduddin Owaisi hit back at the BJP for withdrawing the ban, saying that no civil servant can continue to be loyal towards the nation if they are a part of RSS, and the order goes against India’s unity.

Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said that with the order, Government officers in the Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Department, Central Bureau of Investigation, Election Commission and other departments can “officially prove their Sangh credentials”. “Such a shame, instead of aligning only to Bharat Mata’s interests, the BJP is leading them towards keeping ideological interests first,” Chaturvedi said.

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien said, “Are we surprised that the Union Government has now revoked a 60-year ban on Government employees taking part in RSS activities?”