A major controversy broke out on Friday over the maiden live broadcast of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s entire hour-long Vijayadashami speech on Doordarshan, with Opposition describing it a “misuse” of national broadcaster while the Government and the BJP defended the Prasar Bharati’s decision.
Bhagwat’s address was hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said the issues of social reform raised by the RSS head were “very relevant” today.
“Mohan Bhagwatji talked about important national issues in his speech. The issues of social reform that he raised are very relevant today,” Modi tweeted. The annual customary speech of the RSS head at Dussehra coincided with 89th foundation day of the organisation.
Several Congress and left leaders denounced the broadcast of the speech describing it as “shocking and unprecedented” and blamed the Government for allowing DD to become “a mouthpiece” of the RSS.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar, however, said that Prasar Bharati takes its own decisions and wondered why objections were being raised when it was a “newsworthy” event covered by private channels too. He also suggested that Doordarshan may not have covered the RSS chief’s speech live in the past because of “restrictions” placed by earlier regimes.
“Prasar Bharati takes its own decisions and I don’t know why they were not showing earlier. It’s a newsworthy event. All private news channels are showing it. Then why DD should be bannedIJ” the I&B Minister asked in Mumbai. Javadekar said that DD News carries live speeches of leaders of the Congress and other political parties. “At that time nobody speaks,” he said.
The Congress and left parties have roundly slammed the live telecast of Bhagwat’s speech, terming it as “misuse” of Doordarshan. “It is a dangerous tradition. This is not an organisation which is completely neutral. It is a controversial organisation,” Congress spokesman Sandeep Dikshit said, adding it is a political decision of the Government.
His party colleague Abhishek Manu Singhvi feared that from now on, the country would be ruled through the official media “for Nagpur, by Nagpur and of Nagpur”. Former Union Minister Salman Khurshid said, “We do not accept the record of RSS as being above board in terms of our national aspirations”.
Condemning the live broadcast, the CPI(M) said, “The RSS uses the occasion propagate its Hindutva ideology. The national public broadcaster has no business to telecast live the speech of the chief of an organisation like the RSS.”
The CPI also came out against the live telecast with its national secretary D Raja saying the Government, particularly the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, should give an explanation to the people for allowing DD to be the mouthpiece for the RSS.
Strongly defending the broadcast of the RSS function, the BJP spokesperson Meenakshi lekhi rubbished the criticism saying the Congress and the left never raised objections when the Pope’s message was telecast live, even when they were in power.
lekhi said people are interested in what Bhagwat says as his statement is newsworthy. She said Prasar Bharti is an independent organisation and it has all the right to select its news.”They are trying to gain relevance by raising non-issues,” she said.
Holding that it was misuse of official machinery, JD(U) spokesman KC Tyagi said the Information and Broadcasting Ministry should not encourage public broadcast of any such events in the future.