Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge has said letters asking police to cooperate with RSS Vijayadashami processions do not constitute formal applications for permission, and that organisers must submit complete applications in the prescribed format before police arrangements are made.
The clarification follows letters submitted by the RSS to the heads of Nandini Layout and Mahalakshmi Layout police stations seeking cooperation for processions planned on October 25 in Bengaluru’s Kamalanagar, Laggere and Chowdeshwari Nagar areas. Similar letters have reportedly been sent to police stations in different parts of Karnataka for processions on the same day.
Kharge said the government was not announcing a ban on the processions, but was asking organisers to follow the established permission procedure. “There is a difference between writing to the Home Department saying that a procession will be held and asking it to cooperate and make the necessary preparations, and actually seeking permission,” he said in a post on X, according to Prajavani.
The minister said the letters submitted by the organisation identified only the RSS and did not provide details such as the name of the applicant, the person responsible for the event, the address or the people expected to participate. He said organisers had previously been informed about the format and information required for permission applications.
According to Kharge, police planning for large processions involves more than crowd management. Authorities may need to deploy personnel, arrange vehicles and food for staff, and regulate traffic along the procession routes. These preparations also require a plan based on staff availability and the use of public funds.
The minister referred to the annual report of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, which he said recorded that 2.21 lakh RSS volunteers across Karnataka had participated in processions in uniform on a single day during 2025–26. The figure was cited to underline the scale of planning required if processions are held across the state simultaneously.
Kharge said organisations seeking permission for processions should submit the designated application, fill in all the requested details and wait until approval is granted. He added that letters asking police to prepare and cooperate could not be treated as applications for permission.
The episode places the administrative process for public processions at the centre of the issue: organisers must provide information needed for route, crowd, traffic and personnel planning, while police authorities must decide on the requests through the prescribed procedure before October 25 events are conducted.
