Editorial: The BJP-RSS skywalk

NEW DELHI: The stealth by which the Union government earlier this month removed the ban on government servants participating in the activities of the RSS should leave no one in doubt that the Sangh Parivar is bent upon pursuing its Hindu Rashtra project willy nilly, whether it is in coalition or sole majoritarian rule.

With neither fanfare nor alarm, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which reports to Prime Minister Modi, issued an order on July 9 quietly removing the RSS from the purview of a 1980 decree that forbade government employees from participating in the activities of communal organizations (specifically, RSS and Jamaat-e-Islami). The ban was meant to “ensure a secular outlook on the part of government servants”, obviate conflict of interest, and prevent officers from extending patronage or preferential treatment to communal organizations. By an inexplicable leap of logic, the DoPT decree says the old order had become “irrelevant”.

Seen superficially, this is just a transaction between the BJP and the RSS. The fraternal entities have been cold to each other ever since the former suffered reverses in the recent elections. To anyone keening an ear, RSS leaders have been muttering audibly about the not-so-nice qualities of Modi—his ‘ahankaar’, his pretensions to divinity, and his disregard of politesse. Now humbled, Modi and friends are apparently trying to appease the RSS. This move to throw open a hatch and allow an airlock between the administration and the Sangh Parivar is meant to be a peace offering by the BJP.

However, upon closer examination, the BJP and RSS are only playing good cop bad cop. This order freeing the RSS from a 44-year-old ban is only the latest of a myriad tentacles BJP regimes have thrown around organs of state ever since the party first came to power. Autonomous institutions of governance have been compromised through partisan appointees; university faculties have been infiltrated; judges have been lured with post-retirement posts.

As regards the bureaucracy, the latest order is not the first violation of the principle of separation of church and state. In just the Modi years, we have grown used to government officials exceeding their brief, flaunting their fealty to the ruling party, and facilitating rank communalisation of governance. Long before the Centre lifted the ban on government officers participating in RSS activities, several BJP-ruled states—starting with Madhya Pradesh in 2006, Himachal Pradesh in 2008, Chhattisgarh in 2015 and Haryana in 221—had already passed their own orders circumventing Rule 5 of the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rule, 1964, which seeks to keep the administration impartial.

Democracies the world over have rules to deter partisanship by government officials. In the US, the Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from engaging in partisan political activities while on duty and using official resources. They can express opinions about political issues but cannot run for partisan office or solicit contributions. In the UK, the Civil Service Code mandates civil servants to be politically neutral and avoid actions that could undermine public confidence in their impartiality. The Australian Public Service Code of Conduct requires public servants to maintain neutrality and avoid activities that could compromise impartiality.

The value common to these codes is impartiality. It is a precious value to be guided by in a country of diversities like India. By opening the Indian bureaucracy to partisan influences, the government has now opened the door to chaos.