New RSS image builder to blunt criticisms

NEW DELHI, AUG 8: Madhav Govind Vaidya, the first spokesman of the 75-year-old RSS, does not have a television in his room. Yet, he has st...

NEW DELHI, AUG 8: Madhav Govind Vaidya, the first spokesman of the 75-year-old RSS, does not have a television in his room. Yet, he has strong views on the media. 8220;I know you people are anti-Hindu, anti-RSS8221;, he tells a reporter of some private TV channel.

Vaidya joined the RSS at the age of nine. The organisation has given him the job of 8220;image building8221;. In fact, he seems to have taken the job a little too seriously, already shooting off letters to editors of newspapers which published 8220;distorted reports8221; on the Sangh.

Being a media personality himself 8212; he was Chief Editor of a Nagpur-based daily Tarun Bharat till his retirement in 1983 8212; the 77-year-old RSS spokesman knows how to skirt controversial issues. Ask him if the security lapse was responsible for the massacre of Amarnath pilgrims in Pahalgam and pat comes the reply, 8220;how can I say. I am not a security expert8221;.

Vaidya, however, defends the Centre8217;s initiative to hold talks with Hizbul Muzahidin extremists. 8220;We welcome the peace talks in Kashmir. Those who are opposed to the return of peace in the Valley are resorting to violence. Abandoning this peace process midway, would mean playing into their hands8221;, he says.

What was the reason for the RSS to appoint a spokesman after 75 years of its birth? Admitting that 8220;wisdom dawned on us quite late8221;, Vaidya terms inability of the Sangh in defending against constant media onslaught 8212; misplaced on most of the occasions 8212; as the main reason. 8220;Most RSS functionaries remain on tour most of the time and so they needed someone who could stay at Delhi and interact with the media8221;, he says.

The RSS was never interested in publicity, yet a publicity department was set up in 1994 by amending the Sangh8217;s constitution and Vaidya appointed its first chief prachar pramukh only to counter adverse media reports. 8220;We found there was a schism between reality and image of the RSS created by media so to get the image in sync with the reality we took these steps8221;, he explains citing RSS8217;s role in Mahatma Gandhi8217;s assassination as an example of quot;distorted reportingquot;.

Vaidya says the RSS did not agree with the Government8217;s economic policies but that was not such a great issue as made out by the media. 8220;RSS does not make a resolution on purely political matters. We can8217;t say that the Government8217;s perception of country8217;s economy is same as ours but that is a proof of our claims that the BJP is not an RSS-affiliate8221;, he says.

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Organisations like the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and the BJP enjoy 8220;autonomy8221; as they had their own constitution, workers and perception. But he does say that the RSS might step in if there is a conflict of interest between SJM and BJP and they came to it with their problems.