New Delhi: The hijab controversy, the death of Bajrang Dal activist Harsha in Karnataka, and the suicide of a student, Lavanya, in Tamil Nadu — a case that has seen allegations of forced conversion — dominated the pages of publications affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and sister organisations in the past few weeks.
The writers also commented on the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Organiser and Panchjanya, the RSS’s mouthpieces in English and Hindi respectively, both had cover stories on the alleged murder of 26-year-old Bajrang Dal activist Harsha last month, with his face on the covers of the magazines. Organiser also talked about “dehumanising Hindu victims”, with a focus on Hindu victims of communal violence.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s (ABVP) — the RSS’s student wing — magazine Rashtriya Chhatrashakti focussed on the Lavanya case, while the affiliated trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh’s publication Vishwakarma Sanket had a cover story on the 2022 Union budget.
The economic policy-centred Swadeshi Jagaran Manch’s monthly, Swadeshi Patrika, also focussed on the Budget, with a headline indicating that a leap in development has been taken, but employment opportunities remain scarce.
ThePrint brings you a wrap of what made headlines in the Right-wing press over the past few weeks.
Students’ desire for ‘lavish lifestyle’, and ‘narco jihad’
Amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict that has left Indian students stranded in the war zone, right-wing publications have generally been appreciative of the government’s evacuation effort, ‘Operation Ganga’.
But ‘Videsh jaane ki manasikta’ (the mindset of yearning to go abroad) was the subject of an an article in Panchjanya that argued that it’s students’ desire for a “lavish lifestyle” and wanting to study abroad for “materialistic benefits” that has landed them in their current situation.”
“They believe in leading a lavish lifestyle with a huge income in the West. There is nothing wrong in going abroad to earn money. But the mentality should be to come back and serve the motherland,” reads the article by Pankaj Jagannath Jayaswal, a right-wing commentator.
Jayaswal also decried limitations in India’s education system, saying that while the number of medical colleges in the country has increased by as much as 54 per cent in the past seven years, a lack of focus on research-based education affects students negatively.
Russia-Ukraine war aside, ‘jihad’ also figured in Panchjanya this week — specifically, ‘narco jihad’, which has joined other accusations against Muslims such as ‘love jihad’, ‘Covid jihad’, ‘economic jihad’ and ‘UPSC jihad’.
“Through narco jihad, the youth’s intellectual and educational capabilities are harmed. Kerala’s Pala Archdiocese’s Bishop Joseph Kallarangat had sparked a debate after saying that Christian girls are becoming a target of love jihad and narcotic jihad,” said an by Dibya Kamal Bordoloi.
The bishop, who made these remarks in Kottayam in September 2021, was booked two months later by the Pinarayi Vijayan government.
The article discusses ‘narco jihad’ in context of Assam. “Assam has long been suffering from the problem of Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators. These infiltrators captured the lands of the local residents, got political patronage for identity cards, changed the demographics to become political bastions, and started destroying the culture of Assam. Muslim extremists have designed it for destroying Assam’s youth,” it alleged.
Also read: Many of RSS’ ideas are Leftist, Hindutva is neither Left nor Right, Dattatreya Hosabale says
‘Anti-India forces’ behind hijab row, ‘veil of bigotry’
Meanwhile, the ABVP said that the hijab row in Karnataka will give terror elements access to educational institutions — and thus, the ABVP needs to increase its presence on campuses.
In December 2021, six students of Udupi Women’s Pre-University College protested against a decision by the college authorities to refuse them entry into classrooms while wearing hijabs. The issue flared up and spread to other institutions after the students approached the Karnataka High Court for relief at the end of January 2022.
In the latest edition of Rashtriya Chhatrashakti, the ABVP’s mouthpiece, the editorial focussed on the hijab controversy, characterising it as an attempt by anti-India forces to mislead a section of the youth.
Linking this to terrorism, the editorial said that terror networks have not only have been able to enter educational campuses, but have also gathered the support of the intellectual fraternity. “That is why as colleges reopen after the Covid-19-induced break, we need to increase our presence on campuses,” it said.
Another right-wing commentator, Tarun Vijay, mentioned the controversy. “Hijab, burqa, kisan (farmer), Khalistan, conversion — all these are conspiracies of foreign money and minds to hollow India and obstruct progress, so that our own country can be maligned in the world by our own countrymen,” the former editor of Panchjanya wrote in Dainik Jagran on 26 February on the occasion of V.D. Savarkar’s death anniversary.
Meanwhile, Prafulla Ketkar, the editor of Organiser, called the hijab a “veil of bigotry”.
Brahmins being ‘ignored’ in Modi-Yogi era
The ongoing assembly polls have also been discussed across right-wing publications and among authors, with a special focus on Uttar Pradesh. In his editorial in Naya India on 24 February, Hari Shankar Vyas asked whether the “descendents of Parshuram” — i.e. Brahmins — are being ignored in the era of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
In the editorial, titled ‘Parshuram vanshaj Modi-Yogi ki palaki kyun uthaaye’ (Why should Parshuram’s descendents carry the chariot of Modi), Vyas asked whether Brahmins have truly gained influence during the Modi-Yogi era, or if it’s just a facade.
“…the elders of the Malviya family, who became the proponents of Narendra Modi in Banaras, were also ignored in programmes like the inauguration of the Kashi Corridor… There are many tales of ignoring Brahmins,” he wrote.
“From [Rajasthan governor] Kalraj Mishra’s family to that of [Lok Sabha MP] Rita Bahuguna Joshi, tickets were rejected by Modi-Yogi, and the reality is that there are fewer tickets for Brahmins than Rajputs, despite the latter being outnumbered by Brahmins. That’s why Akhilesh-Congress are getting Brahmin votes,” he added, referring to Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav.
Mishra and Joshi were reportedly among those who had sought BJP tickets for their kin in the Uttar Pradesh polls.
Vyas also gave examples of how Brahmin ministers — whether Union minister Nitin Gadkari at the Centre or Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma in Uttar Pradesh — have allegedly been ignored in the Modi and Yogi cabinets respectively.
Also read: Hijab row not about choice, liberals supporting ‘dangerous trend’, RSS-backed Organiser says
Lack of job opportunities, inequality
Several publications have been discussing employment and inequality, and are not wholly uncritical of the Modi government.
Swadeshi Jagaran Manch’s magazine, Swadeshi Patrika, commented on this year’s Union Budget and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s characterisation of India as entering into ‘Amrit Kaal’, a golden age. The publication said that a leap has been taken in development, but that opportunities for employment remain scarce.
The RSS-affiliated trade union, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, in its magazine Vishwakarma Sanket, referred to the international charity Oxfam’s latest report, saying that the gap between the rich and the poor in India is widening. “It was hoped that the poor would be helped during Covid, but it is evident that the section that earned the most is the well-off people,” it said.
“Wealth should be distributed in such a way that it reaches every small village in the country. But what is the reason that the leadership which worships Gandhi is not following his principle of trusteeship,” it asked.
Hailing Ahmedabad blasts verdict, and why India’s name should be Bharat
The Gujarat High Court’s decision last month in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts case — sentencing 38 people to death and 11 to life imprisonment 14 years after the attacks — was the cover story of this month’s edition of the Vishva Hindu Parishad’s magazine Samrasta Setu. The editorial hailed it as the “biggest judicial decision on jihadi terrorism”.
In another article titled ‘Bharat ka naam Bharat hi kyon hona chahiye’ (Why India’s name should be Bharat), author Ravi Parshar said that while the Constitution refers to the country as ‘India that is Bharat’, the former name, used by the British for their own convenience, reminds us of colonial rule.
Long history of national feeling & ‘colonial mindset’ of judging English proficiency
Rajiv Tuli, an RSS functionary, wrote an article in India Today titled ‘Uprooting the idea of India and sowing the seed of disintegration’ on the controversy over the characterisation of India as a union of states. Attacking the Modi government for centralising power, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had triggered this debate last month, saying that India is described in the Constitution “as a union of states and not as a nation”.
Tuli argued that India has traditionally been known as ‘Bharat’ or ‘Bharatvarsha’ and the concept of “We the nation” existed long ago.
“The feeling of nationalism is embedded in the ethos of Hinduism..there have been various kingdoms, but the feeling of regionalism never took priority over the feeling of patriotism,” he wrote.
“This issue (nation versus union of states debate) has deliberately been pushed to sow the seed of disintegration and secessionism. Not only this, a discord between various states, and states and the central government, is advanced so as the ultimate aim of balkanisation of India may be achieved,” he added.
In an article in Panchjanya, former Rajya Sabha MP R. K. Sinha wrote on the criticism of newly appointed Jawaharlal Nehru University vice-chancellor Prof. Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit. Sinha targeted a section of intellectuals who had mocked a letter written in English by Pandit for its “poor grammar and vocabulary”.
Sinha wrote that a category of “so-called intellectual, progressive” people have emerged who believe that an educated person must speak and know English like Shakespearean characters. Sinha said the tendency of questioning someone’s English reeks of a “colonial” mindset. “Will only the likes of Shashi Tharoor and Mani Shankar Aiyar be considered educated because of their ability to speak fluent English,” he asked.
(Edited by Rohan Manoj)
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