Every year, the RSS has had to seek permission from the Madras High Court to organise Vijayadasmi day route march in Tamil Nadu. This march has typically been carried out peacefully, with thousands of RSS members participating. However, opposition from Dravidian parties and their allies has occasionally led to permission denials or legal disputes aimed at preventing the RSS from conducting their annual event. Due to the pandemic, the march could not be held last year.
Following the court’s favorable decision, RSS lawyer Rabu Manohar shared the outcome with waiting media, highlighting that the court had permitted route marches in all 33 places requested. He said, “a batch of 33 writ petitions came up before Justice G. Jayachandran . Just now, arguments were over. The court has just dictated the order. The court has permitted route marches in 33 places all over Tamil Nadu. It gave directions to state government and police authorities to consider petitions from RSS and give approval in all the 33 places for which petitions were filed. For route march on 22, the police should grant permission five days before the march date”.
Another senior advocate G Karthikeyan said as usual DMK government this year also denied permission to our route march. And we approached the court for permission. But the reasons the government cited were hilarious and in a lower level. One such argument was on the day of your route march, if a funeral procession of Muslim comes, what would you do ? .After hearing both sides, the court directed the police to give permission before 20th for 22nd October route and for 29th march , permission should be given five days before that.
After thorough arguments from both sides, the high court ruled in favour of the RSS, allowing the route march to take place on October 22 and 29 in 33 locations across Tamil Nadu. However, certain conditions and restrictions were imposed.
The court ordered the state government and police authorities to consider and grant approval for the RSS route march in all 33 locations where petitions were filed. For the march scheduled for October 22, the police must grant permission five days before the event, ensuring strict conditions are met to prevent any hindrance to public movement along the routes.
He mentioned that the police should grant permission five days before the event. Senior advocate G Karthikeyan expressed that the DMK government had denied permission for the route march as in previous years and pointed out the seemingly unusual reasons cited by the government.
Another petition related to the RSS route march was filed in the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court. The government’s argument in this case focused on the RSS posters, which featured the ‘Akanda Bharat’ map and the words ‘Hindu Rashtram.’ Concerns were raised about providing security due to the Muthuramalinga Thevar Jayanthi on October 30. The court has directed the RSS to file an affidavit confirming their commitment to abide by the court’s conditions for organizing the route marches, and the matter is scheduled for further consideration on October 17.
Past Legal Battles
It’s worth noting that in the previous year, the Tamil Nadu government took the matter to the Supreme Court in an attempt to stop the RSS route march. However, the Tamil Nadu police granted permission for the march to proceed on April 16, following the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the government’s appeal against the Madras High Court’s order allowing the route march in the state.
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