Alleged enforcement of the lockdown by volunteers of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on the outskirts of Hyderabad has triggered a controversy.
Pictures of lathi-wielding RSS volunteers stopping people at a barricade on the highway and checking their documents and identity cards have been going viral on social media over the last two days.
The pictures were posted by Friends of RSS. “RSS volunteers helping the police department daily for 12 hours at Yadadri Bhuvangiri district check post, Telangana,” read the caption of the pictures.
On Sunday, Amzadullah Khan, president of Majlis-Bachao-Tehreek, a Hyderabad-based political outfit, questioned the propriety of the Rachakonda police (under whose jurisdiction Yadadri Bhuvanagiri falls) in engaging the RSS volunteers.
In a statement, Khan sought to know whether the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government headed by chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao had nominated or officially given permission to the RSS to work for the state departments or it was mischievous conduct by pro-Hindutva officials.
Tagging Telangana CMO, IT minister KT Rama Rao and the director general of police, Khan tweeted: “Sir, why are you silent on this issue of RSS workers with sticks manning police check post in Telangana, people are asking whether @TelanganaCOPs also outsourced to #RSS? Please break your silence.”
RSS Prant Karyavah (state secretary) Kacham Ramesh said in a statement that there was no truth in the reports that their volunteers had checked ID cards. “It is a false allegation and motivated by narrow and vested interests,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}RSS Prant Karyavah (state secretary) Kacham Ramesh said in a statement that there was no truth in the reports that their volunteers had checked ID cards. “It is a false allegation and motivated by narrow and vested interests,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}He said Swayamsevaks do not interfere with the work of the administration and perform activities only after getting proper and full concurrence from the administration.
On the photographs posted in the Friends of RSS Twitter handle, RSS Telangana unit media coordinator Nadimpalli Ayush said the Sangh volunteers had participated in checking of commuters only with the consent of the police.
Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagawat admitted that some RSS volunteers had visited the Alair check post. “We have stopped them and in the last two days, they have not been going there. Our police personal are effectively handling situation. We don’t want to get associated with any religious or political group while doing law enforcement. We are empowered by the government to do that,” Bhagawat said.