Banning RSS members from government jobs 'unconstitutional': Manmohan Vaidya

The RSS has responded to reports that some of the outfit's members were prohibited from joining central government services in Goa and has called the move "unconstitutional".

"This ban is unjust and unlawful. This ban hardly affects the RSS and its Swayamsevaks. It has already been proved unconstitutional by several courts. It's good if the government considers lifting this ban," RSS All India Prachar Pramukh Manmohan Vaidya told The Indian Express.

The department of personnel and training is now planning to hold consultations with the Home Ministry to discuss the need to revoke this "unreasonable and absurd" norm, with a senior government functionary pointing out how RSS had always maintained that "it is a cultural and non-political organisation".

This will be a part of the government's drive to repeal defunct and archaic laws, The Times of India reported.

"The present government has not issued this circular (on debarring RSS members from taking up government jobs). It does not expect anybody joining government service to declare whether or not he/she is a member of RSS," minister of state Jitendra Singh told the TOI on Thursday.

The order was first implemented after Indira Gandhi assumed office as PM in 1966. The move to repeal the order comes in the wake of a central government department asking new recruits in Goa to declare that they don't belong to the RSS.

However, the order was not followed strictly and it was only after the Goa incident that it came to light.