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RSS influence over govt institutions grows with new IIMC & Prasar Bharati appointments

New IIMC DG Sanjay Dwivedi and newly formed Prasar Bharati Recruitment board’s chief Jagdish Upasane have had Sangh Parivar connections for a long time.

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New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government’s appointments to educational and cultural institutions seem to have a distinct Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh flavour, a view backed up by its latest choices for the posts of director general of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication and head of Prasar Bharati’s new Recruitment Board.

Prominent institutions under the Ministry of Culture, such as the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Lalit Kala Akademi and the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training, also have office-bearers with RSS backgrounds.

Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh is among those who allege that many of these appointments are not meritorious.

“Appointments in all these institutions should be done on the basis of merit. Are these persons eligible for these posts or not? If someone is non-eligible, then he will naturally be operated via remote control. It is known by all that the main control of the BJP as well as these institutions is in Nagpur (RSS headquarters),” Vallabh said.

However, the RSS dismissed talk of any involvement with these appointments. A senior RSS functionary simply said: “The government takes a decision in such matters, we have nothing to do with it.”

Seshadri Chari, former editor of RSS newspaper Organiser, told ThePrint that such allegations are “entirely misplaced”.

“Appointments in government institutions associated with arts and culture have been made on the basis of merit and not on the basis of membership and/or association with any particular organisation. If these people are doing something wrong, or working against the interests of the organisation, only then should such accusations be made against them.”

Here’s a look at the various organisations that are headed by persons affiliated to either the BJP or its ideological parent, the RSS.


Also read: RSS roadmap for 21st century India — rewrite history, ‘Indianise’ education, museum revamp


Prasar Bharati Recruitment Board

The Modi government last week formed the first Recruitment Board for national broadcaster Prasar Bharati, appointing Jagdish Upasane as its chairperson.

Upasane, director of Bharat Prakashan, was earlier vice-chancellor of the Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication, appointed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s BJP government in Madhya Pradesh. He had resigned soon after the Kamal Nath-led Congress government came to power in December 2018.

Upasane has also served as group editor of RSS’s mouthpieces Organiser and Panchjanya.

His family has long been associated with the RSS, and his mother Rajani Tai Upasane is a former Bharatiya Jana Sangh/Janata Party/BJP leader who was MLA from Raipur.

IIMC 

Prof. Sanjay Dwivedi was, on 1 July, named the new director general of IIMC, an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, for a period of three years.

Dwivedi, a former journalist, was serving as the acting vice-chancellor of the Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication.

He has been associated with RSS-backed student organisation Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, and was a professor at the MCNUJC. His proximity to the BJP and RSS was one of the reasons he is said to have been sidelined under the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh, while the state’s Economic Offences Wing had also registered an FIR against several professors, including Dwivedi, for cheating and criminal conspiracy.

Once the Congress government fell and the BJP under Shivraj Singh Chouhan returned to power, he was appointed registrar of the university, and within a few days, acting vice-chancellor.


Also read: How RSS fought Indira Gandhi’s Emergency — as the foreign media saw it


IGNCA

Dr Sachchidanand Joshi is the current member secretary of the IGNCA, having been appointed for five years in 2016.

He earlier served as vice-chancellor of the Kushabhau Thackeray Journalism and Mass Communication University in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

Joshi is also the national president of the Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal, an associate organisation of the RSS.

He is also a member of the finance committee of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.

Centre for Cultural Resources and Training

Dr Hemlata S. Mohan is president of the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training. Her website states she has been associated with Sanskar Bharati, another RSS-linked body, since 1987.

Mohan, who hails from Jharkhand, has served as president of the state women’s commission, and is a member of the governing body of the Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority. She is an academician who was awarded by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 2004.

Indian Council for Cultural Relations

BJP’s national vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe is currently chairperson of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, an important body under the Ministry of External Affairs.

Sahasrabuddhe’s predecessors at the ICCR were Prof. Lokesh Chandra (2014-17) and former Union minister and Congress leader Dr Karan Singh (2005-14).

Sahasrabuddhe is also a Rajya Sabha MP, and the BJP’s person in-charge of Madhya Pradesh.


Also read: Indian media used to call out Congress’ abuse of power. Now it legitimises lies of BJP-RSS


 

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6 COMMENTS

  1. Could have been considered a fair article had it referred to Jagdish Upasane’s long innings with India Today. Getting selective with facts too harms claims to fair journalism.

  2. What good is RSS influence in the Government if it cannot persuade the government to change the NCERT text books, especially on humanities, which are full of left-liberal deconstruction of Hinduism and Indian culture? We and our children have been brainwashed for two generations. RSS is anti-intellectual. Neither it can think, nor accept guidance from others.

  3. So what is the probelm if there are people from RSS background. In a BJP led central government do you think Yogendra Yadav, Aruna, Jean Dreze, P B Mehta Teesta Settlevad, Radha Kumar etc will be appointed ? What non sense of an article. For 60+ congress created its ecosystem in every sphere of life but I didnt see any such article on those appointments.

  4. Anyone who comes to power appoints loyal but incompetent people to important positions in a routine manner. One wrong appointment at a time is how the Indian Republic has been completely hollowed out in the last seven decades. This kind of behaviour is practiced by every political group, whether left, right or center. If you really want a good definition of anti-national behaviour you don’t need to look further,,,,

  5. If Nehru and Indira Gandhi can infiltrate all institutions with India and Hindu-hating communists, whats wrong with BJP putting India and Hindu-loving RSSians? These people love India and will do her no harm.

  6. When the voters of India has rejected Congress party in 2014 and reinforced their decision in 2019 , BJP has same level of authority and power which was enjoyed by Congress party , to appoint the persons that believed in its ideology to the posts under government s jurisdiction . Is there any provision in the Constitution of India or any other law that debars the elected government of the day – BJP _ to appoint the persons it liked to various appointments it thinks suitable?
    Where is the problem if the ruling party appoints the persons having faith and trust in its ideology to most of the posts under its jurisdiction. During it ruling period Congress appointed the persons having allegiance to Nehru Gandhi family to all posts without giving thought to merit. Congress was/is not for promoting meritocracy at any time in its history.

    It is surprising that some of the journalists are mis-guiding lower level political leaders, political operators and workers with a grandiose dream of return of Congress party to older days of glory. The place of Congress party has been settled – THAT is in Dust BIN of HISTORY—NOT IN RECYCLE BIN .

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