Live telecast of Bhagwat’s Dussehra speech
New Delhi : For the second consecutive year, Doordarshan will broadcast live RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s annual Dussehra address to volunteers at a function in Nagpur. His maiden live telecast last year had invited flak from the Opposition but the public broadcaster has insisted that its coverage is from the “news point of view”.
Unconvinced with the DD rationale, the Congress on Wednesday charged that for the public broadcaster to telecast live the RSS chief’s speech is like playing “his master’s voice (HMV).
“Well you can set a wrong precedent and keep following it,” pointed out Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, adding that there was nothing new in it and the same thing had been done last year. Describing it as a blatant misuse of public resources, Singhvi observed, ‘‘How many religious leaders deliver Dussehra speeches? How many of these are telecast live by Doordarshan?”
“We all know that the real and the biggest remote control that runs the Modi government presides in Nagpur. It is this remote control that ensures that Bhagwat’s speech is telecast live by Doordarshan,” added Singhvi.
The Congress spokesperson added that after this the BJP should stop charging that the Congress governments are run by a remote control.
The RSS sarsanghchalak has traditionally delivered a public address on the occasion of Dussehra from Nagpur, its headquarters, but it was for the first time last year that Doordarshan decided to telecast it live after the Modi government came to power. This decision came in for a lot of criticism from the Congress and other parties but union minister Prakash Javadekar had defended it stoutly: ‘‘Doordarshan is an autonomous organisation and we want to instill professionalism. Therefore, there is nothing wrong in it and there is no interference in DD’s functioning. When other private channels are also showing live the annual speech of RSS Sarsanghchalak Bhagwat, what is wrong in DD also showing it?” he had said.
