Rajasthan’s Congress government has instituted an aggressive stance against its state employees. The district administration in Ajmer has initiated an exercise to identify government employees who attend RSS shakhas.

In a circular issued by Additional District Collector Kailash Chandra Sharma, the state employees have been ordered to submit self-declaration letters detailing name, surname, department and the name of RSS branch to which he/she is associated with.

According to official sources, the home department has directed all District Collectors to collect such information.

The query raised by Gangapur City (Sawaimadhopur) MLA Ramkesh Meena in the state legislative assembly during its second session from June 27 to August 5 about government employees’ association with RSS branches, had influenced the Congress government to initiate such an aberrant step against the employees of the state.

He had sought to know as to how many RSS branches were operational in the state and at which all places. He also wanted to know the level of participation of government employees and officials in these branches and the government’s view on action against them.

Earlier, Sirohi MLA Sanyam Lodha had asked a similar question the government saying that as per the personnel conduct rules 1971, employees were restricted to join such organisations.

This step taken by the Congress government in Rajasthan has provoked a sharp reaction from the BJP. A senior MLA and a former minister in the Vasundhara Raje government has called this move an effort ‘to impose an undeclared emergency on the state employees.’

Ajmer BJP MLA Vasudev Devnani has criticised the circular. “This letter of the additional district collector is condemnable. The RSS has been a socio-cultural organisation and hence demanding such self-declaration from government employees is unconstitutional,” he said

Terming it a vendetta politics which could not be tolerated, Devnani said the government employees had never been asked to give in writing their links with socio-cultural organisations.

Similarly, an RSS worker also criticised the exercise saying that the data collection was just an act to threaten these employees. “It’s a tool to threaten them, but it shall not make an impact,” he added.

Meanwhile, justifying this move, the Additional District collector said the information had been sought to prepare a reply to the question asked in the Assembly.