RSS Cancels Tamil Nadu March, Will Appeal Against Court Order Caveat

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS, has decided to not hold its proposed road march across Tamil Nadu tomorrow, a day after the Madras High Court permitted it to hold them only in compounded premises like a ground or a stadium. 

In a statement, the right wing Hindu outfit said "the order is unacceptable" and that they would appeal against it.

Just yesterday, the Madras High Court gave conditional permission to the RSS to hold marches in 44 places across Tamil Nadu on Sunday, November 6.  The state government had earlier permitted the march in only three of the 50 places the right-wing outfit had sought permission for. The RSS, the court ruled, should conduct the march peacefully or face consequences.

"Route marches happen in the open in Kashmir, West Bengal, Kerala & other places. We are not holding our Tamil Nadu route marches on November 6th. We will appeal," a statement from the RSS said.

The court had also denied permission for the march in six communally sensitive places, including Coimbatore, Pollachi, and Nagercoil, following intelligence inputs. 

Ruling that it found nothing adverse in the reports by intelligence agencies, the court had allowed RSS, the ideological parent of the BJP, to seek permission for the march in even the six other locations after two months.

Coimbatore had recently witnessed a car explosion a day before Diwali in which one man, Jameesha Mubin, was killed. The case is being probed by the National Investigation Agency, amid fears that Mr Mubin had plans to wreak major damage.

The Tamil Nadu government had earlier denied permission, despite the court permitting it on October 2. The RSS had moved a contempt plea.

The state's Director General of Police (DGP) in a circular to Superintendents of Police (SP) and Police Commissioners asked them to grant permission subject to local law and order situations.

The state had cited law and order concerns then, in the aftermath of the ban on the Popular Front of India.

In a series of Molotov cocktail attacks, kerosene-filled bottles were hurled at the homes and properties of targeted individuals and organisations, including the RSS and the BJP.

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal, an ally of the ruling DMK, too had sought permission to hold a human chain for peace the same day. In its plea challenging the court order, the party has cited the role of RSS in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and how it celebrated Gandhi's death. It had called the outfit choosing Gandhi Jayanti for this event "unfair".