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Journalism of Courage
The editorial in the latest issue of Organiser on the fuel price hike has already made headlines. Entitled 8220;Protest, but honestly8221; it slams the UPA government8217;s decision to hike petrol and diesel prices for the seventh time in two years.
Referring to Murli Deora8217;s statement that state governments were levying high sales tax on fuel, it notes that 8220;this is the first instance that the government has officially admitted that the central and state taxes add to the actual cost of fuel8221;.
That has not stopped the BJP top brass from leading the protests, nor impelled BJP-run governments to follow Big Brother8217;s advice8212;not as yet anyway.
Flaying 8220;Fanaa8221;
Gujarat may have banned Aamir Khan-starrer 8220;Fanaa8221; because the actor8217;s stance on the rehabilitation of the Narmada Dam oustees was seen as anti-Gujarat, but Organiser provides another reason to justify Modi8217;s move.
A front page article, doubling as a film review, claims that the 8220;the protagonist in the movie, Aamir Khan, unapologetically defends jehadi terrorism8221;.
It goes on to describe the several 8220;fatuous events and scenes8221; in the film and insists that the 8220;the idea behind the movie is evidently insidious, trying to make a case for Kashmir8217;s 8216;freedom struggle8217; 8220;. Despite the film8217;s clear anti-terrorist ending, the Organiser article concludes: 8220;One wonders why the BJP did not seek banning 8220;Fanaa8221; all over the country when the theme was unambiguously anti-national?8221;
Private sector quotas
The Organiser8217;s standpoint against reservations for OBCs in higher education has been evident through its choice of articles over the last few weeks. In this issue too, writer B C Dutta attacks the UPA government for seeking to destroy 8220;the last bastion of merit in the country8221; through OBC quotas in IITs and IIMs. Anticipating the imposition of quotas in the private sector, he says such 8220;extended reservation not only threatens to stifle growth, but also violates the Fundamental Right of citizens to pursue any occupation, trade or business as ensured by Article 19g of the Constitution8221;.
Under the quota system, the private sector will be compelled to recruit workers without the requisite skills and efficiency. As a result, businesses will lose their competitive edge and 8220;India8217;s exports would decline, depressing our economic strength and eventual destabilisation of India8217;s economy,8221; the article predicts.
Home truths about Mahajan
The Organiser has refrained from making any direct comment on the Mahajan family saga so far. But the Parivar8217;s viewpoint can be gauged from its decision to reprint columnist Swapan Dasgupta8217;s scathing attack against the BJP8217;s 8220;deification of Mahajan8221; that appeared in a newspaper last week in the wake of the Rahul Mahajan episode.
Commenting on the eulogies to Pramod Mahajan after his tragic death, Dasgupta wrote: 8220;That Pramod was a dynamic functionary, adept at networking and improvisation, was never in doubt. Every political party needs someone like him. Yet, it is a commentary on the intellectual bankruptcy that has afflicted the party that qualities of expediency, sometimes verging on skulduggery, were elevated into godly virtue. There were a lot of things about Mahajan and his political style that were morally and ethically suspect8212;and these were known to the party and RSS leadership. In deifying everything about the man, the party leadership wilfully put a seal of approval on everything Mahajan epitomised.8221;
The deification of Mahajan, Dasgupta added, was not 8220;an act of innocent simple-mindedness8221; but was 8220;symptomatic of a larger rot that is destroying the BJP8221;. By reprinting his column in full, the Organiser makes it clear that it subscribes to that view.
8212; Compiled by Manini Chatterjee
