New Delhi: A day after the RSS’ media and publicity head, Sunil Ambekar, distanced the outfit from a Panchajanya cover story on Infosys, its joint secretary Manmohan Vaidya Monday said the magazine was at the forefront in the battle for “dharma yudh”.
“In dharma yudh, there are two sides — you can have good people on the wrong side and you will have to shoot your arrows aimed at them too,” he said. “Panchajanya heralds the dharma yudh. This war will go on for a long time as a nationalist viewpoint is gaining ground.”
Vaidya was speaking after inaugurating a new office of Panchajanya in New Delhi’s Mayur Vihar. The magazine has for long been associated with the RSS and Monday’s event was attended by former BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta and other RSS functionaries.
Vaidya’s remarks are significant as just on Sunday, the RSS prachar pramukh Sunil Ambekar distanced the outfit from the magazine, after its 5 September cover story raised questions over the functioning of software giant Infosys and suggested that an “anti-national” conspiracy may be behind glitches in the government’s income tax portal.
“As an Indian company, Infosys has made seminal contribution in progress of the country. There might be certain issues with a portal run by Infosys, but the article published by Panchjanya in this context only reflects individual opinion of the author,” Ambekar had tweeted.
He had also claimed that the RSS had nothing to do with Panchjanya.
“Panchjanya is not a mouthpiece of the RSS and the said article or opinions expressed in it should not be linked with the RSS. @editorvskbharat,” he had added.
As an Indian company, Infosys has made seminal contribution in progress of the country. There might be certain issues with a portal run by Infosys, but the article published by Panchjanya in this context only reflects individual opinion of the author. @editorvskbharat
— Sunil Ambekar (@SunilAmbekarM) September 5, 2021
Panchjanya’s Infosys ruckus
The Panchjanya’s 5 September edition carried a four-page cover story on Infosys, with the tech giant’s founder Narayana Murthy’s picture on the cover page.
Slamming Infosys over glitches in the GST and Income Tax portals developed by it, the cover story wondered whether any “anti-national power is trying to hurt India’s economic interests through it”.
“Due to glitches in both GST and Income Tax return portals developed by Infosys, the taxpayers’ trust in the country’s economy has taken a hit,” the article said. “Is it that any anti-national force via Infosys is trying to hurt India’s economic interests?”
Although the article mentioned that the magazine does not have any solid evidence to say this, it added that Infosys has been accused many times of helping “Naxalites, leftists and tukde-tukde gangs”.
It also asked whether Infosys will “provide this same kind of shoddy service for its foreign clients”.
Despite Ambekar’s denouncement, the Panchjanya is closely associated with the RSS. The RSS had started the Rashtra Dharma Prakashan in 1947, which began publishing Panchjanya in 1948 with former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee as editor.
In 1977, the RSS transferred publishing rights to the firm Bharat Prakashan, which now publishes Panchjanya and the Organiser, which is also considered a mouthpiece of the RSS.
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