Opinion Himalayan Credit

While the Congress and the BJP are engaged in a blamegame over the recent Uttarakhand disaster,the RSS has taken credit for the relief

July 4, 2013 12:05 AM IST First published on: Jul 4, 2013 at 12:05 AM IST

Himalayan Credit

While the Congress and the BJP are engaged in a blamegame over the recent Uttarakhand disaster,the RSS has taken credit for the relief and rescue operations conducted by its volunteers. Both Sangh Parivar publications have cover stories on the Uttarakhand floods for the second consecutive week. They seem to want to establish some parity between their efforts and those of the armed forces. The Panchjanya cover story asserts that the army and swayamsevaks (are the) lone support for the stranded pilgrims because the government has failed. The Organiser has a picture of army men trying to repair a footbridge on its cover. Its front page claims that 9,80,000 people have been served meals by the RSS camps up till June 28 by 500 workers,who are engaged in relief operations. The cover story further claims that RSS volunteers reached Kedarnath before anyone else,and prepared a helipad for army helicopters. Both weeklies have published several photographs of RSS volunteers,in their trademark khaki shorts,doing relief work in Uttarakhand. Both publications have also criticised the alleged negligence and inefficiency of the Congress-led regimes at the Centre and state.

Dystopian Society

The Panchjanya carried a two-page report on the recent revelations of the USs global surveillance and Edward Snowdens attempts to escape American law enforcement agencies. The report raises fears that no one is immune to being snooped on. The report also draws parallels between cyberpace and the dystopian society envisaged by George Orwell in 1984. The article reasons that when most large,internet companies like Microsoft,Yahoo,Google,Facebook and Apple have been forced to cooperate with the PRISM programme,then the programme ceases to remain confined to America alone and becomes a project of global snooping. Highlighting how European countries have objected to the project,the article criticises the Indian government for the ambiguity in its position.

Ambitious plans

The Organiser carried a full-page article comparing Nitish Kumar to his Gujarat counterpart,Narendra Modi,in which it criticised Kumars exit from the NDA ahead of Lok Sabha elections. The article alleges that Modi stood in the way of Kumars prime ministerial ambitions as his most formidable rival for the post,which resulted in the split. The article further argues that,with the BJP pushing ahead with Modi,the fall-back weapon for Kumar is a front of the three large eastern states. The final assumption is that Nitish Kumar and his new allies can then play on the fears of the Congress about a Narendra Modi-dominated ministry taking office,forcing the Nehru-Gandhi family to offer support,the article states. It rejects such calculations asking,Does this sound like a government that can lead India,particularly so when there are grave strategic and economic problems on the horizon?

Compiled by Ravish Tiwari