Tamil Nadu Police to allow RSS centenary rallies at 128 locations

The Tamil Nadu Police has informed the Madras High Court that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will be allowed to hold its centenary rallies at 128 locations across the state on October 25 and November 1.

The court directed the organisation to follow the conditions laid down in 2025. It warned that the police could take action if the conditions were violated.

During Thursday’s hearing, the court questioned the police’s practice of citing the presence of mosques along proposed routes as grounds to deny permission. It asked whether Muslims would necessarily oppose the rallies and observed that such reasoning could give the community a bad name.

The court also directed the RSS to submit details of the 128 locations and the expected number of participants. The police had raised concerns about public inconvenience, as the rallies fall around Diwali and Vijayadashami.

On Wednesday, the court questioned whether the RSS engaged in anti-national activities that warranted repeated restrictions. It said such curbs might be understandable in a terrorism-affected region like Kashmir but questioned their application in Tamil Nadu.

The state government cited fresh guidelines for such events and referred to clashes at an RSS rally last year. It also raised concerns about public inconvenience and law-and-order challenges.

Successive Tamil Nadu governments have cited intelligence inputs, possible clashes between rival groups and security concerns to deny or restrict permission for RSS route marches.

The police have also raised concerns about security deployment, competing events and disruption to public movement. Authorities maintain that restrictions aim to prevent violence and preserve communal harmony.

The RSS, however, has argued that its route marches are peaceful and that it should not have to approach the courts every year for permission.

The dispute has become a recurring legal battle in Tamil Nadu, where the RSS’s Hindu nationalist ideology faces opposition from Dravidian political movements. The organisation is the ideological parent of the BJP.