New Delhi, Oct. 22 : The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) supremo Mohan Bhagwat will have every eye trained on him as he makes his annual ‘Vijayadashami’ speech on Thursday.
With Bhagwat’s streak of making bold and controversial statements, his today’s address comes in the wake of a rise in cases of intolerance and his own statements on ‘reservation’ which the Bharatiya Janata Party has been cautiously maintaining a distance from.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has been continuously attacking the BJP over Bhagwats’s call for a panel to ‘decide which categories require reservation and for how long’, and will be waiting for the RSS head to slip again to turn it into ammunition.
Bhagwat had last month pitched for a review of the reservation policy, contending it has been used for political ends and suggesting setting up of an ‘apolitical’ committee to examine who needs the facility and for how long.
“Interest groups are formed because we have certain aspirations in democracy. At the same time, we should remember that through interest groups we should not strive to address those aspirations at the cost of others,” Bhagwat told Sangh mouthpiece ‘Organiser’ and ‘Panchjanya’ in an interview.
“We should have integral approach of welfare for all. It is sensible to realize that my interest lies in larger national interest. Government also has to be sensitive to these issues that there should not be any agitation for them,” he added.
However, the BJP, in a quick move asserted that it ‘very clearly does not support any reconsideration of the existing constitutional provision of reservation for the SC, ST, OBC and Extremely Backward Classes”.
National broadcaster Doordarshan will broadcast Mr Bhagwat’s speech live from the RSS headquarters at Reshmibag in Nagpur.
This will be the second consecutive year that Doordarshan will broadcast the RSS chief’s Dussehra speech live.
Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi slammed Doordarshan’s move to telecast live the event, saying it was against law and ethics.
“State media is being misused for propaganda of an organisation, which could not be called a cultural organisation,” Singhvi said. (ANI)