Thiruvananthapuram: The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) on May 18 issued a circular to all temples under them to not allow mass drills and other activities organised by the RSS on temple premises.
The circular says that this should be strictly followed, and action will be taken against those officers who do not follow it.
The TDB’S fresh circular is a reiteration of its earlier order on March 30, 2021, which said that other than for temple rituals and festivals the temple premises should not be used for any other purpose. This was based on a complaint received by the board. However, it was found that a few TDB officials were supporting such activities in a few temples under the board. There are 1,242 temples under TDB.
According to the circular issued by the TDB, the board re-issued the order after noticing that RSS functioning on its temple premises.
The move to ban RSS activities in the temples started in 2016 when the LDF government came to power. The then government had issued a circular using the relevant sections of the Kerala Police Act in the wake of complaints that RSS was holding drills inside the temple premises. However, the directives as per the circular were not imposed strictly.
(With inputs from ANI)
