Chennai:
The Madras High Court on Wednesday questioned Tamil Nadu's refusal to permit an RSS route march and asked the state government to work with the organisers on arrangements for a peaceful procession and public meeting.
Hearing a petition seeking permission for the event, Justice V. Lakshminarayanan orally criticised the repeated rejection of applications for processions, saying such decisions forced organisations to approach the court and generated avoidable litigation.
The judge observed that the government had denied permission to organisations across the ideological spectrum, including the Dravidar Kazhagam and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He questioned why RSS marches faced restrictions in Tamil Nadu when they were allowed even in Jammu and Kashmir.
In further oral remarks, the judge said the state appeared to view citizens as enemies when dealing with requests for protests and processions.
He observed that the RSS encountered refusals regardless of which government was in power.
The petition was filed by RSS member V.G. Jagadeesan, who sought directions to the police to consider his representation for route marches on October 18, October 25, November 1, or another suitable date.
The proposed programme involved participants marching in uniform, accompanied by a musical band, followed by a public meeting.
Senior advocate N.L. Rajah, representing the petitioner, submitted that the organisation faced the same difficulty every year despite seeking only to celebrate its founding day, which coincides with Vijayadashami.
Police routinely cited possible law and order problems to reject applications, he argued.
Rajah also questioned how smaller organisations lacking the resources to pursue litigation could secure permission if they faced similar refusals.
Advocate General Vijaya Narayan said permission had been denied because the proposed venue was not a notified location for holding public meetings.
The court directed five representatives from the petitioners' side to meet State Public Prosecutor John Sathyan and work out a solution for conducting the programme peacefully.
Adjourning the hearing to Thursday, the court asked the state government to submit a report on arrangements for permitting a peaceful procession.
The dispute follows earlier court guidelines governing RSS route marches. Permission was nevertheless refused in 2024, prompting litigation. While allowing marches then, the court had said police must protect organisers and the public, comply with judicial directions and avoid inventing reasons to reject applications on law and order grounds.
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