CHENNAI: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activists were arrested in various parts of Tamil Nadu on Sunday as they attempted to take out route marches in their khakhi-white uniforms to mark the RSS foundation day and kick start celebrations to commemorate the 1000th coronation year of 11th century Tamil King Rajendra Chola.
Despite the explicit orders of the Madras high court permitting the route marches, police prevented them. Thousands of marchers including BJP national executive member L Ganesan in Madurai and BJP national secretary H Raja in Dindigul courted arrest condemning the police for acting in contempt of court orders.
“We will definitely move the high court on Monday against police for contempt of court,” Ganesan told TOI. “It is nonsensical to ban marches by a nationalist organization like the RSS,” he averred.
RSS state joint secretary S Ramamurthy expressed dismay that despite the nod given by the DGP Ashok Kumar to the RSS on Saturday that the route marches were okay provided no music bands were in attendance, on Sunday morning the police had changed their decision. “It is my personal impression that police seemed to be helpless on account of political pressure,” he said.
The Madras high court had on Friday green-flagged the RSS processions at seven locations in Tamil Nadu, saying they could not be stalled by police citing archaic colonial-era legislation and “intelligence inputs” which were too general. Police authorities who denied permission for the rallies had also invoked a wrong provision of law, the court said.
RSS members at Rajarathnam stadium in Chennai (TOI photo)
Taking exception to the RSS attire, the government said RSS volunteers wear a uniform resembling that of a police force, and also carry lathis, which were impermissible as per laws.
Justice V Ramasubramanian permitted RSS processions (route marches) in all the seven towns, saying participating cadres should not carry any weapons or lathis and should not raise slogans hurting sentiments of others.
To mark its foundation day on November 9, RSS had planned to take out processions at seven places – Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruvarur, Karur, Thuckalay, Tenkasi and Tuticorin. After police refused permission, the RSS units in these places filed petitions seeking court’s intervention.
At Chennai outside Rajarathinam stadium in Egmore, police detained over 4,500 activists including 300 women as they were about to start the march. They were later let off in the evening. City police booked them under 151 IPC (preventive arrest for unlawful assembly). Police said the members were wearing uniform resembling that of police. As many as 380 cadres of RSS who were planning to march in the Madurai city limits were arrested. Similarly, cadres in many southern districts were arrested on Sunday. In Virudhunagar, 151 cadres who were assembled at Desabandu ground were arrested before released late in the evening, according to the police. A total of 626 activists including two women were arrested by the Trichy.
It appeared as if all the traffic policemen in the city were deployed for the march to assist the police vehicles and contain any violence. All the vehicles parked in the procession route were cleared due to the large number of crowd that showed up for the march. Children, women were all part of the sangh who were all arrested and left out later in the night.
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