Opinion Shadow over coal

The cover story in Organiser has charged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with having “capitulated to [the US’ demand for market access” by allowing foreign investment. Admitting that the decision was successful at diverting attention away from coal block allotments,the editorial in Organiser has projected this decision — along with the diesel price hike and cap on subsidised cooking gas cylinders — as the “beleaguered prime minister’s… googly” against Congress President Sonia Gandhi,“akin to Indira Gandhi’s bank nationalisation”.

“In one stroke,Manmohan Singh has killed several birds. He has pleased his foreign masters,he has distracted the opposition ire [sic,foxed the Congress party into supporting him a little longer and won favours for the corporate class,” writes Organiser. It also contends that the PM timed his decision to bail out US President Barack Obama as he runs for re-election,where Obama is charged of “losing American jobs to Asia while the large Indian middle-class buyers’ market had been restricted to foreign companies”.

The editorial in Panchjanya argued that the government ignored over six crore domestic retail traders while succumbing to “US pressure” to open up the retail sector. Organiser also highlighted Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s decision to pull out of the UPA government to assert that the ruling Congress betrayed its allies.

Sudarshan Loss

Both Sangh Parivar weeklies mourned the death of former RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan with extensive coverage of the life and works of the Parivar’s former head. Series of reports and photographs in both journals pay homage to Sudarshan for inspiring generations of RSS workers. The attendance of top BJP leaders — L.K. Advani,Nitin Gadkari,Sushma Swaraj,Arun Jaitley,Rajnath Singh,Gopinath Munde,Ananth Kumar and Narendra Modi,among others — at RSS headquarters to pay tribute was highlighted.

While the reports on Sudarshan talk of his commitment to “swadeshi and economic self-reliance”,Organiser in particular has sought to show that Sudarshan “pioneered inter-faith dialogue”. To substantiate its claim,Organiser specifically pointed out about the presence of “many religious leaders from Muslim,Christian and Buddhist sects” at RSS headquarters. Organiser underlined the tributes paid by Jamat Ulema-e-Hind’s president,Maulana Kazmi and published pictures of Muslim community members paying their respects to the former Sangh Parivar chief.

BUILDING BRIDGES

An article in Organiser also spoke of Sudarshan’s “relentless efforts and consistent attempts” build bridges with the Muslim community in the country. In support,the article also acknowledges the “determined effort” put in by “senior RSS leader Indresh” to “achieve this seemingly difficult and unachievable target” — that is,building bridges with Muslims. The article refers to his engagement with several Muslim leaders during his tenure as RSS chief.

“Sudarshanji had deep knowledge about Islam and Christianity. Several Muslim intellectuals and clerics respected him. They used to visit him and he also used to participate in their programmes,” Panchjanya said.

Though both weeklies published pictures of Sudarshan and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee together,they did not discuss the differences between him and Vajpayee when the NDA was in power.

Compiled by Ravish Tiwari