The Congress government in Karnataka on Thursday reissued a 2013 circular, which restricted the activities of private or non-governmental organisations in public spaces and on roads, reported PTI.

The action will likely impact the activities of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Hindutva organisation usually conducts its camps in government-aided schools and other public spaces.

The circular, dated February 7, 2013, was issued when the BJP was in power in Karnataka. It stated that government school premises should not be used for private purposes or non-academic activities, reported IANS.

It was reissued days after Karnataka Information Technology Minister Priyank Kharge wrote to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seeking a ban on RSS activities in all government public spaces.

In a social media post, Kharge said that the aim of his letter was to prevent “the RSS’s attempts to create negative impacts on children and the youth community, and to uphold the ideals of the Constitution, unity, equality and integrity”.

After a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Kharge said that new rules will be framed based on the 2013 circular, reported PTI. “In the next two to three days, the new rule will come into force within the framework of law and the Constitution,” Kharge was quoted as saying.

Karnataka’s Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa told ANI that students and parents had complained about the “ideological mentality” of non-education activities being carried out in schools.

“So, we had to make an order in the interest of children,” he was quoted as saying. “Anything not good for children will not be allowed in our schools.”

The state’s Law Minister HK Patil told reporters that the circular was not specific to any organisation.

The BJP had criticised Kharge’s remarks about the RSS, saying that he was criticising a “patriotic organisation” to conceal his “administrative failures”, reported The Hindu.

Kharge claimed that he was receiving calls with threats against him and his family for questioning the Hindutva organisation.

“If they think threats and personal jibes will silence me, they are mistaken,” he wrote on social media.

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