Even as IIT-Madras revoked the ban on the Dalit students’ body, the RSS mouthpiece justified last month’s crackdown on Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle (APSC), while accusing it of propagating “anti-Hindu” and “anti-Bharat” ideology. Alleging that educational campuses in the country are “inflicted” with Marxist or “red ideology”, an editorial in the latest issue of the Organiser also attacked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for his recent visit to the Ambedkar memorial in Mhow in Madhya Pradesh, calling it an attempt to play votebank politics. “Recent issues of administrative disciplinary action against the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle (APSC) in IIT-Madras and Rahul Gandhi visiting Ambedkar’s birth memorial are similar attempts to mask great nationalist reformers like Babasaheb with Communist garb of class divisions or the Congress’ way of votebank politics,” the editorial said. Justifying the action against APSC, the editorial claimed that use of institutional space and symbols without permission amounted to “indiscipline” and the institution had every right to question its students. “The educational campuses are inflicted with the wide range of ‘red’ ideology that has used forums such as APSC to propagate anti-Hindu and anti-Bharat divisive ideology, which Dr Ambedkar would have never approved of.” Pointing out that nobody can and should support a ban on any student outfit for criticising government policies, it said the HRD Ministry had only forwarded a complaint by another section of students. “The pet projects of Aryan invasion, inciting hatred, breaking democratic norms of discourse for political gains and then misrepresenting facts through media is the ultra-communist strategy, which is perfectly used in this case. Mentors like Arundhati Roy can happily use these forums to propagate anti-India ideology,” the Organiser said, while calling Ambedkar a “confirmed enemy of Communists.” However, the RSS weekly favoured a dialogue to create an atmosphere of social harmony, instead of following the path of divisive ideologies. The mouthpiece also accused the Congress of “always misusing national icons” and “appropriating anti-Brahminism movement” as a part of its strategy. In a sharp attack on Rahul Gandhi, it said: “No Indian would believe that a person who took 10 years to understand his party will rightly address the complex issue of caste-based discrimination and untouchability.” The weekly’s cover story titled ‘Poisoning Student Politics’ alleged that both APSC and Congress’s student wing, NSUI, were trying to spread message of “hatred and disorder.” While it accused the APSC of misrepresenting reformers for spreading hatred in student politics, it said the NSUI’s top leader, Rahul Gandhi, was preaching disorder and misrepresenting the facts about RSS. Alleging that it was politics of attacking Hindu nationalism at play, the article warned: “This strategy of injecting divisive thinking can prove dangerous for respective organisations and poisonous for student politics.”
