The Supreme Court on Monday, November 6, 2023 agreed to a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) route march in Tamil Nadu on either November 19 or November 26, but gave the State authorities the liberty to pick one of the two dates and decide the course of the march.
The court said the event organisers could submit their proposed route by November 9. The State has to notify the route by November 15.
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta was hearing a special leave petition filed by the State, through the Director General of Police (DGP), against two orders of Single Judge Benches of the Madras High Court allowing RSS route marches in the State.
Senior advocate Madhavi Divan, appearing for respondent K. Chandrasekar, said the route march organisers would undertake to cooperate with the State authorities on the fixing of a date and the route for the march. “We just want to hold the march,” Ms. Divan submitted.
The State, represented by senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Mukul Rohatgi and Tamil Nadu Additional Advocate General Amit Anand Tiwari, said the government was wary about the march triggering violence and even communal clashes in the State. “We do not want that to happen in our State,” Mr. Sibal emphasised.
He said an earlier route proposed by the organisers had passed through Jama Masjids and mosques.
During the hearing, Mr. Rohatgi said the organisers wanted to hold three marches in every district. “Your Lordships can tell them to hold one rally in one district. They have to give us the proposed route. We should be allowed the liberty to amend the route,” he suggested.
Mr. Sibal said the State should decide whether it should be “one rally or three rallies”.
Justice Kant said the event organisers had already given an “unconditional undertaking” to maintain peace and cooperate with the authorities. “What is the problem as long as they adhere to their undertaking?” the court asked.
In one of the two back-to-back orders of the Madras High Court in October, Justice G. Jayachandran had concluded that the State’s refusal to permit the route marches was “certainly not in tune with Secular or democratic way of governance” and contrary to “principle of secularism”.
In April, the apex court had dismissed a similar special leave petition filed by Tamil Nadu against orders passed by the Madras High Court allowing RSS route marches in the State.
