Kochi, Oct 1 (NationPress) In a remarkable transition from the khaki of the Kerala Police to the khaki pants of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), former Director General of Police (DGP) Jacob Thomas officially joined the RSS as a full-time pracharak on Wednesday.

Thomas, aged 65, was formally welcomed during the RSS's padhasanchalan (route march) in Pallikkara, located in Ernakulam district, where he donned the RSS's traditional attire known as Ganavesham.

The retired officer disclosed that his affiliation with the RSS spans several decades, maintaining close relationships with its leadership, including sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat.

He expressed admiration for the discipline and selfless service demonstrated by the cadre towards the nation, asserting that no other organization in the world exhibits such commitment.

Thomas previously indicated his intention to serve full-time as a pracharak and has left it to the organization to determine how his skills will be utilized.

Once a trusted associate of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Thomas was appointed Director of Vigilance on the day Vijayan took office in 2016.

However, their rapport deteriorated by 2018, resulting in his suspension from duty on two occasions.

Although reinstated later, he was assigned to lead a nearly defunct state public sector unit, Kerala State Metal Industries Ltd, located in Shoranur.

On the night before his retirement on May 31, 2020, Thomas made headlines by spending his last night on the office floor, a powerful symbolic act.

After retiring, he joined the BJP and contested in the Irinjalakuda Assembly constituency during the 2021 elections, garnering around 33,000 votes.

He finished third, while the winner, R. Bindhu of the CPI(M), subsequently became the state's Higher Education Minister.

With his formal induction into the RSS, Jacob Thomas's political and ideological journey has decisively shifted from serving in the police force to embracing the Ganavesham of the Sangh.