Swadeshi Stars at Sangh Shibir

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>[bJP News]: Swadeshi Stars at Sangh Shibir

>Wed, 18 Oct 2000 10:21:51 -0400

>

>Title: Swadeshi Stars at Sangh Shibir

>Author: RADHIKA RAMASESHAN

>Publication: Telegraph

>October 15, 2000

>

> New Delhi, Oct. 14:

> The khakhi shorts and saffron flags were

>in place as were the

> anthem and the Sanskrit commands for the

>ritual drill at the

> Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS)

>mahashivir (grand

> camp) which started in Agra yesterday.

>

> The only departure from tradition was

>the roping in of a

> constellation of swadeshi achievers and

>entertainers for the

> occasion. The celebrities in

>Shastripuram included media baron

> Subhash Chandra of Zee TV and television

>star Nitish

> Bharadwaj. “Supercomputer architect”

>Vijay Bhatkar and

> turmeric patent case winner Raghunath

>Maslekar were among the

> other invitees.

>

> RSS sources said Chandra, Bharadwaj and

>Chandraprakash (who

> produced and played the lead in the

>teleserial, Chanakya) were

> invited as “observers”. Bhatkar and

>Maslekar, along with Param

> Vir Chakra winner Dhan Singh Thapa and

>Ashok Chakra winner

> Jasraj Singh, will be honoured.

>

> RSS sources said the special invitees to

>the camp — which used

> to be a closed-door exercise — were

>meant not just to add

> “colour” but also to get the much-needed

>certificate of

> endorsement for an organisation that to

>most still symbolises

> rigidity and an obsession with a

>medieval past. The nattily

> dressed Chandra and Bharadwaj were

>supposed to convey the

> message that the RSS was trying to keep

>up with the times.

>

> However, the personality and career

>profile of the guests were in

> sync with the Sangh’s concept of

>“nationalism”. Reports from

> Agra said Chandra arrived yesterday in a

>silver-coloured

> limousine, wearing a suit. But minutes

>later, he was on the dais

> with K.S. Sudarshan and Rajju Bhaiyya in

>a dhoti-kurta.

>

> The sartorial makeover wasn’t all. The

>media magnate who had

> held the “nationalist” flag aloft

>against Rupert Murdoch said he

> had been a swayamsevak in his childhood

>and being at

> Shastripuram was like “rediscovering” a

>part of himself.

>

> Bharadwaj, who wore his trademark Fab

>India kurta, had played

> Krishna in B.R. Chopra’s Mahabharat,

>which along with

> Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan, was

>acknowledged by the BJP as

> promoting Hindutva.

>

> Chandraprakash was always known as a

>Sangh sympathiser and

> his teleserial Chanakya was thought to

>extol the last chapter of

> the “golden Hindu rule”.

>

> The turmeric patent winner is the right

>advertisement for the

> RSS’ brand of swadeshi economics, while

>the “supercomputer”

> architect is meant to send a message to

>non-resident Indian

> whizkids in Silicon Valley.

>

> Lama Lobzang, a member of the National

>Commission for

> Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes,

>was also present at the

> camp. Lobzang reportedly claimed that he

>was there to propagate

> the Ladakhi cause and their “struggle”

>against the Jammu and

> Kashmir government. The RSS has covertly

>supported the

> Ladakhi “struggle” by pleading for the

>trifurcation of Jammu

> and Kashmir along religious lines.

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