5 days ago
Karnataka Teachers Suspended Over Alleged RSS March Participation
Two government school teachers in Karnataka were suspended.
Officials said they took part in a march organized by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS.
The education department said government employees must follow conduct rules.
It said the teachers’ participation may have broken those rules and amounted to dereliction of duty.
The teachers were first asked to explain what happened.
They were then suspended while departmental inquiries continue.
Minister Priyank Kharge said the department could take action if the rules supported it.
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said the suspensions would not survive a court challenge.
MLA Mahesh Tenginakai said the RSS is independent of political parties and urged the government to cancel the orders.
Yadgir’s education department suspended government teachers Annasaheb Deshmukh and Gururaj Joshi over alleged participation in an RSS Path Sanchalan.
The department said their participation violated provisions of the Karnataka Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 2021.
The action followed a complaint by Jummanna Gudimani of the Ambedkar Swabhimani Sene and departmental notices seeking the teachers’ explanations.
The teachers were suspended pending departmental inquiries under Rule 10(1) of the Karnataka Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1957.
Minister Priyank Kharge defended the action, while Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and MLA Mahesh Tenginakai condemned it and called for the orders to be withdrawn.
- Who
- Yadgir education officials; teachers Annasaheb Deshmukh and Gururaj Joshi; Minister Priyank Kharge; Union Minister Pralhad Joshi; and MLA Mahesh Tenginakai.
- What
- Two government teachers were suspended over alleged participation in an RSS Path Sanchalan, or route march.
- Where
- Yadgir district, Karnataka. The teachers worked in Kuppi and Hunasagi in Surpur or Surapura taluk; the reports also identify Talikoti and Hunasagi Town as march locations.
- When
- The march was reported as occurring about nine months earlier; one report specifically dates it to October 10, 2025. The suspension orders were issued afterward, with the reports differing on the elapsed period.
- Why
- The education department said the participation violated Karnataka government service-conduct rules and constituted alleged dereliction of duty.
Government’s Disciplinary Position
Critics’ Legal and Political Objections
Whether participation breached service rules
Government’s Disciplinary Position
The Yadgir education department said the teachers’ participation in the RSS march violated the Karnataka Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 2021 and allegedly amounted to dereliction of duty.
Critics’ Legal and Political Objections
Mahesh Tenginakai said the RSS is an independent organization not affiliated with a political party and argued that people associated with any party should be free to participate.
Validity of the suspension
Government’s Disciplinary Position
Priyank Kharge said the Education Department could take disciplinary action if it found the participation warranted proceedings, and the orders placed the teachers under suspension pending inquiries.
Critics’ Legal and Political Objections
Pralhad Joshi said similar actions against government employees attending RSS events had been struck down by courts and predicted that these orders would also fail in court.
Scope of government employees’ activities
Government’s Disciplinary Position
The department’s order treated participation in an activity associated with an organization involved in political activities as incompatible with the cited conduct rules.
Critics’ Legal and Political Objections
Critics argued that attending an RSS Path Sanchalan should not by itself justify suspension and called on the state government to withdraw the orders.
Key facts
- Suspended teachers
- Annasaheb Deshmukh, head teacher or head master at a government primary school in Kuppi, and Gururaj Joshi, a teacher at a government girls’ school in Hunasagi.
- Cited conduct rules
- The order cited Rules 3(1), 3(2), 3(3), 5(1) and 7 of the Karnataka Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 2021.
- Suspension basis
- The department said government employees should not belong to political parties or organizations that directly or indirectly participate in political activities.
- Procedure
- Officials issued notices, considered the teachers’ responses and placed them under suspension pending departmental inquiries.
- Complaint
- The action followed a complaint by Jummanna Gudimani, Yadgir district president of the Ambedkar Swabhimani Sene.
- Government defense
- Priyank Kharge said the Education Department was entitled to initiate disciplinary action when warranted under applicable rules.
- Political opposition
- Pralhad Joshi said the orders would not withstand court scrutiny, while Mahesh Tenginakai demanded their withdrawal.
Quotes
Mahesh Tenginakai
MLA who condemned the state government’s action
“That’s left to the Education Department. If someone is participating in some event and the department sees it is fit to take action, they will initiate action. Why should our employees take part in the programme of an unregistered organisation?”
thehansindia.com
“Whenever attempts have been made to take action against government employees for attending RSS events or to restrict RSS activities, the courts have struck them down”
deccanchronicle.com
Sources
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