Kerala: Amid the clamour of a ban on Bajrang Dal from some Congress leaders in some states, a circular restricting shakhas or mass drills of the RSS in Kerala by an influential temple body turned the heat on the Hindutva outfit.
The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which manages the temples in Kerala, has issued a fresh circular asking officials to strictly follow its earlier order banning RSS 'shakhas' (branches) or mass drills at the shrines under it. In a circular issued on May 18, the TDB said its 2021 order directing the officials to stop the sangh parivar organisation from using the temple properties for arms' training, was not being implemented.
It said stern action will be taken against the officials who refuse to follow the TDB order. The TDB had in 2016 issued a circular banning all types of arms' training in the temple complexes by the RSS. Later, on March 30, 2021, the board reissued the circular asking the officials to take action in this regard.
A senior TDB official said that the circular was reissued this time to ensure that the operation of RSS 'shakhas' inside temple premises was not allowed. In 2016, the then Devaswom Minister, Kadakampally Surendran, had alleged that the RSS was trying to turn temples into storehouses of arms in Kerala and that the government had been receiving a large number of complaints in this regard. After the release of The Kerala Story, a few organisations demanded restriction on the activities of Hindutva outfits in the country.
