London: The British government has said that neither the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) nor the Bajrang Dal are terrorist groups and their members are not banned from entering Britain.
"The government do not consider the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or the Bajrang Dal as terrorist organisations," British Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Lord Malloch-Brown told the House of Lords.
"Neither organisation is proscribed in the UK or in India, nor do the Indian government classify either as a terrorist organisation," Malloch-Brown said in reply to a question by former Cabinet minister Lord Chris Patten.
The statement earlier this month comes amid calls by campaigners for Britain to stop Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from entering the country and less than two months after a top RSS member visited Britain and met members of the British Hindu community.
Malloch-Brown said decisions on whether or not to ban a group in Britain "must be proportionate and based on evidence that a group is involved in terrorism as defined in the Terrorism Act 2000."
The British minister also turned down a plea by Patten, who had visited India in October, to "ensure" that members of the RSS and Bajrang Dal are prevented from entering Britain.
Malloch-Brown replied that neither the RSS nor the Bajrang Dal were banned in Britain or subject to other restrictions or sanctions. Nor were they classified as terrorist organisations or banned by the Indian government.
"Unless an organisation is proscribed in the UK under the Terrorism Act 2000, membership of an organisation does not in itself provide grounds for refusing entry to the UK," the minister said in his answer on November 6.
