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The book on Hedgewar
Sudarshan's soft spot for 'Socialist' Sushma Swaraj
UPON his appointment as the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad lost no time in ordering an official biography of the RSS founder, K. B. Hedgewar. The Publications Division of the Ministry was directed to give the job to Rakesh Sinha, a Delhi University lecturer and a hard-core Sangh Parivar loyalist. Sinha produced the manuscript in record time. And given Prasad's keen interest in the project, the book was formally released at an official function last week where the galaxy of Sanghis led by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was in presence.
The secularists took umbrage at the official sanction to the RSS founder's biography and saw a pattern in the book on Hedgewar and the earlier unveiling of the portrait of the Hindutva icon, V. D. Savarkar in Parliament. Given the controversial ideology of Hedgewar and Savarkar that was only to be expected. But in the Sangh parivar they were not surprised by the criticism of the book being brought out by a government agency as much as the failure Sushma Swaraj to ensure its release so long as she was the I and B Minister.
At the release function the other day the cream of RSS-BJP leaders was either in the audience or on the stage. And quite a few among them talked in hushed tones to Swaraj's failure to produce the book on the RSS founder so long as she was the I and B Minister while Prasad lined it up within a few weeks of his shift to the Ministry. Since she had come to the BJP from the Socialist Party, it was argued, she did not want to be associated openly with the biography in order not to rile the secularist lobby. In sharp contrast, Prasad, who comes from a hardcore RSS family had no hesitation in ordering the book.
However, what seemed most odd was the defence of Swaraj from the podium by none other than the RSS chief, K. S. Sudarshan. He said that she was one with the parivar and ought not to be blamed for the non-release of the book when she was the I and B Minister. Sudarshan's defence led many in the audience to recall how he was schematically cultivated by the former Socialist-turned-BJP leader and how, as a result, the RSS Supremo had pleaded with Vajpayee to make her a Cabinet Minister despite her public pledge to continue as a member of the Delhi Assembly even if the BJP lost power to the Congress (which it did, though Sushma had managed to get elected to the Assembly).
Condemn and deplore this grandstanding
In some ways, India and Pakistan are in the same boat. Veteran journalist and a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, Kuldip Nayar pointed out the other day how Indian and Pakistani politicians had split hair as to whether they should 'deplore' or 'condemn' the US-led war in Iraq. Not unlike India, Opposition MPs in Pakistan too were keen to use the Urdu word 'Muzammat' (condemn) to describe the US action in Iraq while the government there wanted to use the much milder expression 'absos' (that is, to term the US action unfortunate). After much haggling resulting in a full day's loss of parliamentary work, the Indian MPs too settled for the Hindi word, 'Ninda' which is the equivalent of 'deplore' rather than condemn, a word members from the Left and Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party wanted to use to describe the US-led military action in Iraq.
Incidentally, senior Congress MPs were none too happy with their leadership for having allowed the much smaller groups like the Communists and the Samajwadis to set the agenda for the main opposition party. As a former union minister confided in a select group of journalists, in official diplomatese condemn is rarely used while it is normal to 'deplore' an action or to call it unfortunate. Senior Congress MPs concurred with the Vajpayee government's pragmatic stand on the Iraq issue but lamented the fact that their leadership instead of taking the lead in Parliament felt obliged to follow the Marxists and the Samajwadis who had their own reasons for being vehement in their opposition to the US. The Marxists were yet to get over the Cold War hang-over while Samajwadis mouthed strong words against the US with their gaze firmly fixed on the sizable Muslim vote in UP. Why should the Congress Party fall in the trap of the Marxists was the question quite a few Congress MPs asked these past few days.
DD staff dawdles as bosses commission outsiders
Against its own principled policy not to commission programmes from private producers, the bigwigs at Prasar Bharati sanctioned a daily half-an-hour-programme on the Iraq war for a fee of Rs. 5 lakh per day. Initially, the sanction was given for twenty days. The main promoter of the programme was an opportunistic scribe who for several years now has been raking in the mooolah by the fistfuls from Doordarshan under different political regimes. While DD had dispensed with the category of privately produced commissioned programmes, the said journalist continues to ply his world-related weekly programme uninterrupted on the strength of his connections at various levels. On the eve of the Iraq war, DD bigwigs felt obliged to sanction Rs. 5 lakh per day for a half-an-hour programme for twenty days at a stretch by a newly floated outfit backed by the same journalist. This despite the fact that DD has an army of camermen, correspondents, editors, technicians, et al on its rolls.
Notwithstanding the association of a couple of upright and talented people with the programme, its quality left much to be desired. And once you had seen major world channels, the programme invariably looked stale and a cut-and-paste job. Admittedly, DD top brass, including the I and B Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, had strong reservations, but these came to a naught when some people pulled the right strings. The programme was extended beyond the initial twenty days. And it now turns out that instead of Rs 5 lakh daily it might cost DD double that amount since the promise of the Iraqis extending hospitality and providing free uplinking remained unfulfilled. If one took into account the lost ad revenue, the programme would cost DD far more than it had initially bargained for. No wonder, they say, war spells misery for most but an opportunity for, well, opportunists.
Her brother's sister
The Minister for Disinvestment and Information Technology Arun Shourie, has yet another forum to exploit to burnish his image as a so-called crusader. His sister, Nalini Singh, who never misses an opportunity to tell whoever it is who matters that she is his sister, has now started a satellite TV channel of her own. Though at present the footprint of Nalini Singh's channel is supposed to be limited to Nepal, but given her ambitions, and her propensity to use Shourie's name at the drop of a hat, the channel's beaming into Indian homes cannot be altogether ruled out. She is the famous Shourie's sister after all, isn't it?
Doctors all
Can the possessor of a honorary doctorate prefix his or her name with the academic sounding Doctor or Dr.? Well, most people avoid using 'Dr' before their names. Which is just as well for otherwise some of the most of uncouth Indian politicians who have had only a nodding acquaintance with formal or informal education would begin to flaunt their honorary doctorates. But clearly the undisputed liquor king of India and the newly-elected member of the Rajya Sabha, Vijaya Mallya, did not bargain for a gentle reprimand from the Defence Minister George Fernandes when in a letter to him he prefixed his name with 'Dr'. Fernandes wrote back, politely ticking Mallya off saying that honorary doctorates do not write doctors before their names. Now it is Mallya who is protesting, saying that his is a genuine degree from some Californian university. In what? The color, body and taste of beer in India?