The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) deplores the Prime Minister’s justification of the Gujarat government’s decision to lift the ban on government employees participating in the activities of the RSS. While talking to newspersons after inaugurating the World Book Fair today, Mr. Vajpayee has taken the plea that the RSS is a "social outfit" and not a political organisation. After giving indirect approval earlier by stating that the central ban on employees’ participation in RSS activities remains, the BJP has sought to make it even more explicit.
It needs no reiteration that the RSS is a political organisation with a clear-cut political-ideological perspective working in the guise of a "social outfit." The RSS, which aims to establish Hindu raj based on the philosophy of Hindutva, guides and controls its political arm the BJP. The notification issued by the BJP government in Gujarat is nothing but a measure aimed at infiltrating and communalising the administration in the state.
This once again demonstrates the fact that, while all along asserting that the BJP adheres to the NDA agenda, it has not given up its own hidden agenda. On the contrary it is making all efforts to implement its agenda. The Prime Minister’s openly coming out in defence of a rabidly communal outfit like the RSS should serve as a warning to the allies of the BJP who were earlier taking a stand against communalism.
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) while strongly condemning the stand adopted by Mr. Vajpayee appeals to all the secular and democratic forces to voice their protest and thwart the nefarious designs of the BJP to disrupt national unity.