Bengaluru: The Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday cleared the Karnataka Regulation of Use of Government Premises and Public Property Bill, 2026, making prior government permission mandatory for private functions, rallies, meetings, processions, and other gatherings on government-owned or controlled public property across the state. The legislation, widely viewed as targeting the activities of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), will be introduced during the ongoing Monsoon session of the state legislature.
Once enacted, the Bill will cover government and government-aided schools and colleges, playgrounds, parks, community halls, roads, waterbodies, and other public assets managed by the state, local authorities, boards, or corporations. Organisers of events or processions involving more than ten people will have to apply for written permission at least seven days in advance, providing details of the route, number of participants, timings, and responsible persons. Authorities can refuse permission on grounds of public order, traffic disruption, or safety.
Violations will be treated as cognisable and non-bailable offences. A first offence can attract imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of up to ₹5 lakh. Subsequent violations may invite up to five years in jail and a fine of ₹10 lakh, with additional daily fines for continuing breaches. Police officers of the rank of Sub-Inspector and above will have the power to arrest without a warrant. Unauthorised use will be treated as trespass, with powers of inspection and eviction. Marriages, funerals, and certain unorganised educational or recreational gatherings are proposed to be exempt.
Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar insisted the measure is not aimed at any single party or organisation. “There needs to be proper documentation for events. Be it you or me, we cannot barge on to the streets according to our whims and fancies,” he said, citing the example of a minister who obtained permission for a public programme. Home Minister Priyank Kharge, who proposed the Bill, stated that it creates a legal framework to safeguard public assets, ensure accountability, and prevent misuse. “Why is everyone thinking this is to curtail or curb any particular institution? Beats me,” he remarked, denying any specific targeting of the RSS.
The move replaces a controversial Home Department standing order of October 18, 2025, which had required prior permission for gatherings of more than ten persons on government properties. That executive order was stayed by the Karnataka High Court, which directed authorities to examine requests on a case-by-case basis. The new Bill seeks to give statutory force to the regulatory regime.
The immediate trigger for the 2025 order was the denial of permission for an RSS route march (sanchalana) in Chittapur constituency on October 19, 2025. The local tahsildar cited lack of prior approval, incomplete details on participants and lathis, and absence of organisational registration documents. Home Minister Priyank Kharge, who represents Chittapur, had written to the then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seeking curbs on RSS activities in public places, government schools, colleges, parks, and playgrounds. He alleged that such programmes, including shakhas, spread divisive ideas among children and youth and ran contrary to the spirit of the Constitution and national unity.
The Congress government and the RSS have remained at loggerheads ever since over the organisation’s traditional use of public grounds and educational premises for baithaks (meetings) and route marches.
The confrontation escalated further after Kharge assumed the Home portfolio. On June 13, 2026, he wrote a formal letter to RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat. The letter began with congratulations on the organisation completing 100 years but quickly turned to demands for transparency and legal compliance.
Citing the RSS’s own 2025-26 Karnataka report from the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, Kharge noted that the organisation claimed 4,127 daily shakhas, 1,389 weekly milans, 60 monthly mandalis, 2,194 Samajotsavas with nearly 19.61 lakh participants, and 562 route marches involving over 2.21 lakh uniformed swayamsevaks in the state alone. He argued that an organisation of such scale and public mobilisation cannot operate without formal registration as a legal entity or body of individuals.
Kharge sought public disclosure of the RSS’s legal status and organisational structure, details of office-bearers, sources of donations and income, expenditure and assets, tax compliance, the legal basis for conducting activities without registration, the constitutional framework claimed for operating without accountability, and permissions obtained for public events and marches. “If citizens, labour, NGOs, trusts, temples and companies are expected to register, disclose and comply with the law, why should the RSS remain exempt?” he asked. He called upon the RSS to register, disclose its finances, pay applicable taxes, and function transparently within the Constitution, requesting a formal response and deputation of authorised office-bearers for discussion.
The letter was made public by Kharge on June 15, 2026. Bhagwat responded by dismissing the demand as politically motivated. He stated that the RSS has always functioned openly, with shakhas held in public spaces and karyakartas living among the people. “Nobody told us to register. Hindu Dharma is not registered. Many things are not registered. So why should I respond? All this is politics. Nothing serious,” he said, adding that the organisation had submitted its constitution to the government decades earlier and had faced and overcome bans in the past through legal and satyagraha means.
Kharge later defended the letter, saying that as Home Minister he needed to know whom the state was providing security to for hundreds of marches involving large numbers of participants. He reiterated demands for the organisation to come under the legal framework.
BJP leaders have accused the Congress government of a “backdoor attempt” to regulate and target the RSS. State BJP president B.Y. Vijayendra questioned why the government does not ban the organisation outright if it has the courage, and asked what “treachery” the RSS has committed. The government maintains that the Bill applies equally to all private organisations, associations, societies, trusts, clubs, and unregistered bodies, and is necessary for public safety, order, and responsible use of public assets.
The Bill is expected to intensify the political and legal battle. Opposition parties are likely to challenge it both inside the legislature and in court, while the government insists it merely replaces a stayed executive order with a transparent statutory process applicable to everyone. The legislation marks the latest chapter in the sustained face-off between the Congress-led Karnataka government and the RSS over the latter’s public activities and organisational status.
