M A I N   N E W S

Samata differs on RSS issue

NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (PTI) — Yet another NDA constituent, Samata Party, today came out against participation of government employees in the activities of any organisation including the RSS.

“Government employees should not join any organisation including the RSS, Jamaat-i-Islami and even our own Samajwadi Abhiyan”, Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly told reporters.

Stating that no particular organisation should be singled out and condemned, she said the Samata Party did not want to enter into any debate on “secular-communal” division and that the RSS had also been doing a lot of good things.

Though there was no legal restriction preventing government employees from joining such organisations, except political parties, the Samata Party is against such participation, she said.

Already the DMK and the TDP have opposed participation of government employees in the RSS.

While TDP leader and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said yesterday that “it is not correct to encourage outsiders in government or those who are working in government to participate in other organisations”, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi in a letter to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had cautioned him against permission to government employees participation in RSS activities.

JAIPUR (UNI): Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has “strongly protested” to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee against the controversial decisions of the Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh governments to allow their employees to “join” the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) and urged him to “direct both the state governments to withdraw the permissions”.

“The grant of permissions by the Gujarat and UP governments to their employees to join an organisation such as the RSS, which was directly involved in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and which stood banned in the past on occasions, is a dangerous step,” said Mr Gehlot in a letter to Mr Vajpayee yesterday.