New Delhi | The BJP and the RSS on Monday hailed the Centre's move to lift the ban on government employees from participating in activities of the Hindutva organisation, with the Sangh saying the decision would strengthen the country's democratic system.

It also accused the earlier regimes of furthering their own political interests by imposing the ban in the past.

BJP leader and Union minister Piyush Goyal said the Congress government's decision in 1966 to ban government employees from attending RSS activities was driven by political reasons.

The Congress has always had a negative mindset for nationalist organisatons, and such a thinking has no place in the country, he told reporters.

Opposition parties, which have criticised the Modi government's decision to lift the ban, were only interested in appeasement politics and have displayed a negative attitude to Hindus, he claimed.

Goyal described the RSS as a nationalist organisation whose members are full of patriotism.

A day after a government order became public about the ban being lifted and several opposition leaders criticised the move, RSS spokesperson Sunil Ambekar said in a statement, "The present decision of the government is appropriate and strengthens the democratic system of India." The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has been continuously involved in the reconstruction of the nation and service to the society for the last 99 years, he added.

"Due to the contribution of the Sangh in national security, unity-integrity and taking the society along during times of natural disaster, various types of leadership of the country have also praised the role of the Sangh from time to time.

"Due to its political interests, the then government had baselessly banned the government employees from participating in the activities of a constructive organisation like the Sangh," the statement said.

There have been multiple instances of the government barring its employees in the past from associating with the RSS.