Guwahati, May 16: The Congress today demanded that the BJP-led government in Assam bar central government employees and its representatives from attending RSS functions.

Congress Legislature Party leader Debabrata Saikia raised the demand following Facebook posts and media reports about senior central government officials attending an RSS training programme for new volunteers at Hojai in central Assam, around 150km from here, on Sunday.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagawat had addressed the trainees for four days from May 2.

Citing the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964, Saikia said, “The department of personnel and training says no government servant shall be a member of or be otherwise associated with any political party or any organisation which takes part in politics. In 1966, it was amended to include that any government servant, who is a member of or is otherwise associated with the organisations (RSS and Jamaat-e-Islami) or with their activities is liable to disciplinary action.”

“As far as my knowledge goes, there has been no change in the rules though Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken steps in 2015 to change it. We, therefore, demand Dispur take steps to check that central government rules are not violated to maintain the country’s secular ideals. RSS is not seen as apolitical or secular even by the Centre,” he added.

Saikia is the second senior Congress leader in a week who has hit out at the BJP government for its links with the RSS.

Former chief minister Tarun Gogoi had criticised Dispur for sanctioning Rs 10 lakh to each RSS-run Sankardev Shishu Niketan. BJP spokesman Pramod Swami dismissed the charge by questioning what prevented Gogoi from promoting Xankardeb’s name during his 15-year tenure.

Efforts to contact government spokesperson and cabinet minister Chandra Mohan Patowary proved futile. But RSS spokesperson Ranjib Sharma told The Telegraph: “The RSS is a cultural organisation, a big secular organisation. Hinduism is a unique form of secularism. And we never invite any government official. If somebody attends our meetings out of love, we can’t stop them.”

On Tea Board chairman Prabhat Kamal Bezboruah attending the programme, Sharma said he was not an RSS member. “We invited him as a social worker/industrialist.”

Bezboruah reportedly talked about “demographic invasion” by illegal migrants from Bangladesh in Assam and called for their “disenfranchisement”.