Kerala's Travancore Devaswom Board Reiterates Ban on RSS Activities in Temples

The state-run Travancore Devaswom Board, which is in charge of a sizable number of temples in southern Kerala, reiterated its ban on RSS activities on the grounds of the shrines while making it clear that even the use of banners and loudspeakers by outsiders is forbidden.

The order was issued five months after the first similar circular, issued in May, which only broadly forbade RSS activities but was being disregarded at numerous Board-run temples.

On the grounds of temples, the RSS supposedly holds martial arts training sessions at night in addition to shakhas (mass drills).

In order to ensure that the location is only utilized for religious activities, the most recent decree prohibits both of these as well as the use of loudspeakers by anybody other than temple management. The circular states that no third-party advertising, including banners and hoardings, would be permitted within temples.

Each temple's priests have been instructed to notify the authorities of any violations.

The order was criticized by the BJP. State BJP chief K. Surendran said, "If they try to enforce any ban, we will come out in full strength and make sure that activities of the RSS are held everywhere."

"(Jawaharlal) Nehru and Indira Gandhi were unable to impose a stop on our operations. Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister of Kerala, would also fall short.

"This is just a political gimmick to energize extremist organizations," Surendran continued. This won't work because the RSS is a legally recognized organization that doesn't provide any military training. Nobody can prevent us from carrying on with our activities.

Instead, he urged that the government put a stop to the activities of the members of the Popular Front of India, a banned organization that is right-wing and Muslim.

"Instead of going after the RSS, they should control the actions of extreme groups like the PFI, whose leaders continue to operate long after they were outlawed. Police under Pinarayi Vijayan should pursue them, according to Surendran.

Despite Kerala continually rejecting the BJP, the RSS has a sizable presence there. Kerala has never produced a BJP member to the Lok Sabha.

In Kerala, the BJP has only succeeded in gaining one Assembly seat; in 2016, O. Rajagopal, a former Union minister, won in Nemom, Thiruvananthapuram. But in 2021, the CPM won the seat from the party.

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