Karnataka: Two government teachers suspended nearly ten months after joining RSS route marches

Two government school teachers in Karnataka’s Yadgir district have been suspended for taking part in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) route marches held in October 2025 during the organisation’s centenary programmes. The suspension orders were issued on August 20 by Yadgir Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI) Channabasappa Mudhol and became public around August 27. The teachers will remain suspended while a departmental inquiry is conducted.

 

 

The suspended teachers are Anna Saheb Deshmukh, a head teacher at the Government Lower Primary School in Kuppi village of Surpur taluk, and Gururaj Joshi, an assistant teacher at the Government Girls High School in Hunasagi.

 

Deshmukh participated in an RSS route march in Hunasagi on October 10, 2025, while Joshi took part in a march in Talikoti in neighbouring Vijayapura district on October 12.

 

The matter began with a complaint filed by Jummanna Gudimani, district president of the Ambedkar Swabhimani Sene in Yadgir. Gudimani sought action against government employees who had participated in RSS marches and approached then Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge as well as the state government. 

 

The complaint was subsequently taken up by the Education Department, which conducted an inquiry before the suspension orders were issued.

 

 

 

The suspension orders say the teachers participation prima facie amounted to dereliction of duty and violated Rules 3(1), 3(2), 3(3), 5(1) and 7 of the Karnataka Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 2021. The suspension is not a final finding of misconduct, and any further disciplinary action will depend on the outcome of the departmental inquiry.

 

The teachers have argued that the route marches were held on Sundays, outside their working hours, and were cultural rather than political programmes. The government, however, has treated their participation as falling within restrictions applicable to government employees.

 

The government’s position is that participation in RSS route marches falls under restrictions. The RSS and BJP dispute this, pointing out that the RSS describes itself as a cultural organisation rather than a political party.

 

The Yadgir suspensions come after months of confrontation between the Congress government and the RSS over the organisation’s activities on government premises and the participation of government employees in its programmes.

 

 

During the RSS centenary celebrations in October 2025, Kharge had written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seeking restrictions on RSS shakhas, meetings and similar programmes at government schools, playgrounds, parks and other government properties. He had also sought a circular warning government employees against associating with the RSS and similar organisations.

 

The government’s approach has since extended beyond employee conduct to the use of public property. In August 2026, the Cabinet cleared the Karnataka Regulation of Use of Government Premises and Public Property Bill, 2026. The proposed law requires prior written permission for processions, meetings, assemblies and other gatherings on government land, roads, parks, playgrounds and buildings.

 

The government says the proposed law is organisation-neutral and is intended to regulate the use of public property. BJP leaders, however, have described it as an attempt to restrict the RSS without formally banning it.

 

The confrontation has already played out in the courts. An earlier government order imposing restrictions on the use of public property for gatherings was challenged, and the Karnataka High Court stayed parts of it while directing authorities to examine individual cases.

 

The Yadgir case now adds another dimension to the dispute. While the immediate issue is the conduct of two government teachers, the larger question is whether an employee’s participation in an RSS programme outside working hours can amount to a violation of service rules.

 

There has been no final judicial determination in these cases on whether participation in an RSS patha sanchalana, by itself, constitutes a punishable violation of the 2021 Conduct Rules.