Why can’t Tamil Nadu police grant permission for route marches by RSS, DK, asks Madras High Court

The Madras High Court on Wednesday (October 14, 2026) wondered why the Tamil Nadu police do not grant permission for route marches, bike rallies, and such other events by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Dravidar Kazhagam (DK), or even political parties, irrespective of the government in power.

Justice V. Lakshminarayanan raised the question during the hearing of a writ petition (criminal) filed by RSS North Tamil Nadu secretary V.G. Jagadeesan, through his counsel V. Chandrasekaran and K. Srinivasa Murthy, seeking permission for route marches in various places across the State on October 18 and 25 and November 1, 2026.

The petitioner wanted permission for the RSS members to participate in the marches wearing dark olive brown trousers, white shirts, caps, belts, and black shoes. He said that the participants would be led by a musical band in every place where permission had been sought, and the event would be followed by public meetings.

Senior counsel N.L. Rajah told the court that the RSS had been taking out such annual marches across the country since its inception in 1925 and that its sister organisations had been conducting similar marches even in New York, London, Sydney, Auckland, Paris, and Ottawa.

After hearing him, the judge asked why, if RSS members had been taking out route marches even in “terrorist-infested areas such as Jammu and Kashmir”, they could not do so in Tamil Nadu. He said that the police were inviting negative publicity for themselves by not granting permission for route marches and bike rallies.

Advocate General Vijay Narayan said that the routes for which the writ petitioner had sought permission for the marches were not conducive to conducting such marches and that the general public would be put to inconvenience if such marches were permitted during the festival season.

After hearing both sides, the judge directed the counsel for the petitioner to meet State Public Prosecutor R. John Sathyan at his office on Wednesday (October 14) to resolve the issues relating to the date, time, and place for the marches and report the result of the discussion to the court on Thursday (October 15).