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RSS to defy Kerala govt's curbs on physical training

D Jose in Trivandrum

The Sangh Parivar in Kerala has decided to defy the ordinance promulgated by Governor Sukhdev Singh Kang imposing curbs on imparting training in martial arts, unarmed combat and mass drill.

"All the 5,000 units of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh in Kerala will continue with the drill. Let the police arrest our boys. We will fill the jails in the state," said state Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary P P Mukundan.

Mukundan told rediff.com that the RSS shakhas (branches) would not apply for any licence to conduct the drills as prescribed by the ordinance. "We have 40,000 to 50,000 boys attending the drills every day. All of them are prepared to go to jail," Mukundan said.

The BJP politician termed the ordinance issued last month illegal and said the party would challenge it in court. "If the ordinance is implemented in letter and spirit, even Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Union ministers who are associated with the RSS can be arrested. The ordinance is a poor legal document. It does not define what kind of activities form part of the physical training that it intends to curb."

He wondered if police would arrest the prime minister if he inspects a guard of honour given by RSS workers at any RSS function in the state.

Mukundan said the ordinance was a "mischievous" piece of legislation that could be misused by parties in power and the police. It would affect the entire gamut of physical training, including yoga, martial arts, karate, folk arts, gymnasium activities, sports and club activities.

Mukundan said the motive of the ordinance was suspect because the government could have waited for the assembly session to begin and then passed a proper legislation. "The ordinance is a 'last and desperate' attempt by the CPI-M to check the exodus of its cadres to the RSS and the BJP," he claimed.

"We will not be cowed down by such attempts. It will boomerang on the CPI-M since it is not expected to be in power all the time." The CPI-M also imparts physical training to its cadres.

Kerala BJP vice-president Madikkai Kumaran described the ordinance as a paper tiger intended to frighten away people flocking to the RSS shakhas. He said the RSS would enlist the support of individuals and organisations running gymnasia and providing training in karate, kalaripayattu (a local martial art) and folk arts to fight the ordinance.

RSS general secretary H V Seshadri termed the ordinance an infringement of the democratic rights of citizens. "The act of the CPI-M government is constitutional violence. The Constitution safeguards one's right to protect his life," he said.

The ordinance issued on January 22 makes it mandatory for organisations imparting training to their cadres on methods of attack in martial arts to obtain a licence from the state government. It makes it incumbent upon persons and organisations providing such training to obtain a permit within three months from the date of commencement of the ordinance.

Contravention of the provisions of the ordinance will be a cognizable, non-bailable offence under the Criminal Procedure Code and could result in imprisonment for up to three years and/or a fine of up to Rs 5,000.

The ordinance gives police officers of the rank of sub-inspector and above the power to inspect training centres.

Interestingly, the government has not started implementing the law yet. Mukundan believes it is waiting for the route march of the CPI-M's youth wing, the Democratic Youth Federation of India, to get over. The DYFI is now imparting physical training to its cadres for taking part in the route march.

RSS state secretary A R Mohanan said the ordinance is politically motivated. He said it was born out of the CPI-M state secretary's statement that the RSS drills were responsible for the recent political violence in Kannur. Pinarayi Vijayan had aired this opinion at the all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister E K Nayanar at Kannur in December.

Mohanan said the government was trying to achieve through the ordinance what the CPI-M cadres had failed to achieve through muscle power. "If the government thinks it can suppress the RSS through laws, it is mistaken. The RSS exists not because of the drill alone. The drill is only one aspect of the RSS ideology. One cannot kill a whole organ by destroying one part," he said.

Mohanan said the government was trying to invoke laws as the communist parties had failed to fight the RSS on the ideological plane. "We welcome anybody to fight us ideologically. We have a strong ideological base, which can withstand any attacks," Mohanan said.

"The Sangh Parivar is not afraid of the attempt to suppress the movement through laws. History has given us enough lessons that a movement only grows from strength to strength when there is suppression. The Communists should know it better since their movement grew when they were suppressed most," Mohanan remarked.

He said former chief minister K Karunakaran had also tried such measures against the RSS when he was in power. The courts had struck down as undemocratic his government's orders banning RSS drills and imposing restrictions on lending school premises for the purpose.

Official sources admit the ordinance is an offshoot of the recent political violence in parts of Kannur district. The government believes the violent tactics adopted by the Sangh in Kannur were learnt through secret training imparted to the cadres.

The sources said the ordinance was warranted by reports that some organisations were giving training in arms to their cadres to attack rival party workers. The government hopes to get a clear understanding of the activities of such organisations by keeping a watch on them, the sources said.

The state government has already started a hunt for explosives, firearms and illegal weapons dumped in the northern district. A 600-member Malabar Special Police team has been pressed into service to unearth the weapons.

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