THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The controversial decision by the government to prevent its employees from heading religious or community organisations may lead to widespread protests. It is part of a conspiracy to bring religious and community organisations under the government control, according to critics, adding that the government move is aimed at controlling the growth of certain community organisations. If political parties can operate their feeder organisations with government servants as office-bearers, so can religious and community organisations, pointed out Thushar Vellappally, vice-president of SNDP Yogam. “How can the government direct the employees to stay away from such activities? Will they be able to restrict political activities by government employees who are part of their feeder organisations? If they want to restrict government employees from working with community and religious organisations, first let them restrict political activities. Otherwise, we are not going to accept any such diktat,” opined Thushar Vellappally, who added that the SNDP Yogam would protest against this decision. Hindu Aikyavedi state general secretary Sasikala teacher termed the government decision an encroachment into the employees’ freedom. “The government should make clear what is the reason for bringing such amendments. It seems the government feels that community organisations are not coming under their control. If employees can work with service organisations which are highly politicised, why can’t they work with religious bodies? There must be some mysterious aims behind this move,” she added. NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair said he can’t comment on the development without seeing the order. He said that it needs to be examined under what circumstances such an order was issued. “Earlier there were some similar moves. I can’t comment on this without going through the order in detail, as this is a major development,” he pointed out. Meanwhile, Kerala Secretariat Association pointed out that government employees who are office-bearers of community and religious organisations will have to quit the posts soon. “These are part of statutory norms for government employees. It is practicably possible. It is mandatory for government employees to stay away from being officebearers of such organisations now. The government decided to bring in these amendments due to certain reasons. We have got some enquiries in this regard for sometime,” said T Sreekumar, general secretary of the association.