RSS Holds Marches In 3 Tamil Nadu Districts Amid Tight Security

Chennai:

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS, held marches in Tamil Nadu’s Kallakurichi, Cuddalore and Perambalur districts today, a day after the BJP’s ideological mentor said it was cancelling the event, following a hearing in the Madras High Court.

The marches and a public meeting commemorating India’s 75 years of independence and the 125th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar concluded peacefully amid tight security.

These are the three places where the Tamil Nadu Police had allowed the marches.

“Some 330 RSS members participated. We had SPs (police officers) from Kallakurichi, Villupuram and Vellore, besides the Villupuram range DIG (police officer) undertaking security arrangements,” a police officer told NDTV in Kallakurichi.

On Friday, the Madras High Court allowed the RSS to hold marches at 44 places, but only at closed places like stadiums. The RSS, calling the order “unacceptable”, had said it would file an appeal.

“Route marches happen in the open in Kashmir, West Bengal, Kerala and other states…” the RSS had said.

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

Agreeing with inputs from intelligence agencies, the court said the RSS can ask for permission for marches at six more locations after two months.

A car had exploded in Coimbatore a day before Diwali, killing a Jameesha Mubin. The National Investigation Agency, or NIA, has taken over the case as the incident could be related to terror.

The Tamil Nadu government had denied permission to the RSS to hold the marches, despite the court allowing it on October 2. The RSS then filed a contempt petition.

The Tamil Nadu Police chief in a circular to senior officers told them to give permission depending on the local law and order situation. The state government had cited law and order concerns after the Popular Front of India, or PFI, was banned.