Don’t permit Govt staffers join RSS, Karunanidhi warns Vajpayee

In the letter to Vajpayee, the Chief Minister referred to the controversy over allowing government employees to join the RSS and said various rules of Central and State Governments prohibited government servants from joining political parties.

"Granting permission on the plea that an organisation is social will tend to open a pandora’s box," he said.

Karunanidhi felt that it would set a precedent for political parties to create their own outfits with a `social character’ to attract government servants to their fold. `Ultimately, it will affect the administrative structure nurtured over a period of time and allow inroads into disciplined forces like the police, defence and other important services and lead to unnecessary problems’ he said in the letter.

Karunanidhi said Government employees were bound by the Constitution and were responsible to the Government alone.

"While this being so, a situation may arise, where employees affiliated to different organisations, working in the same department, may come into conflict. This may lead to a situation where Government offices are converted into debating fora and the functioning of the Government comes to a standstill," he wrote in the letter.

Karunanidhi felt that Government employees should not indulge in political activities and that the people should not lose faith in the impartial and apolitical functioning of the administrative machinery.

Pointing out that there were many more important tasks at hand before the nation, he said the combined energies should not be frittered away in such `contentious issues, which may distract ours, as well as the attention of the people’.