A letter by the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar asking the police to gather details of office-bearers of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and 18 Sangh associates in the state has sparked a major row in the NDA-ruled state.
WEB DESK
Bihar Police Special Branch has issued orders to all district incharges to gather information on the state functionaries of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates.
The letter, which has gone viral on social media now, was issued on May 28. It is signed by Superintendent of Police of special branch and is addressed to all deputy SPs of special branch.
In the letter, the DSPs have been asked to furnish names and addresses of president, vice-president, secretary, treasury, joint secretary and other functionaries of the RSS and its 18 associate organisations.
Gather all details including names, addresses, telephone numbers and business associations of all office-bearers (presidents, vice-presidents, secretaries, treasurers, joint secretaries or others, if any) of the RSS and its following associate organizations within a week, the letter reads.
The 18 associate Sangh outfits named in the letter are the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Hindu Jagaran Samiti, Dharm Jagaran Samanvay Samiti, Hindu Rashtra Sena, Rashtriya Sevika Samiti, Shiksha Bharti, Muslim Rashtriya Manch, Durga Vahini, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Bharatiya Rail Sangh, ABVP, Akhil Bharatiya Shikshak Mahasangh, Hindu Mahasabha, Hindu Yuva Vahini and the Hindu Putra Sangh.
This must be taken as very important, the officer wrote, with another senior police official appending his comments on the letter on June 3: Please comply immediately.
BJP MLC and party’s media cell national co-in charge Sanjay Mayukh raised the matter in the state Legislative Council during the day and urged the state government to clarify the issue.
“I am astonished that the government is seeking such information. The government should have had the information by now since Sangh activists are not known to be secretive. They function in a transparent manner,” he said earlier. The BJP’s state unit spokesman Nikhil Anand also came out with a flurry of angry tweets underscoring the contribution of the RSS in strengthening the country’s democracy and called for education of the people about the Sangh and its activities.
BJP MLA and state vice-president Mithilesh Tiwari said, “If information is being gathered as part of some routine procedure then I have no problems. But if it was being done with any ulterior motive, then I have strong objections.” “I am unable to understand why the police should keep a surveillance on activists of the Sangh Parivar, who are known to be selflessly devoted to nation building, he said.
Tiwari, however, asserted the development will not have any bearing on BJP-JD(U) ties. The parties have come together to develop Bihar and will continue to work in this direction. Both parties have a mutual understanding that each would pursue its own ideology in a way that does not harm the other, he said.