Choose a captain
An article in the RSS weekly,Organiser argues that,as the Congress is grooming Rahul Gandhi as its next prime ministerial candidate,the BJP should ready its own candidate rather than waiting another three years.
Kamath adds: It can be done without making a song and dance of it,and even behind the scenes,if that is a good alternative. But the message must reach the citizen that the future of the country and the strengthening of its administration and economic sinews is at the top of its agenda. Pre-planned is well planned.
He says that future prime ministers will have to be a new breed,capable of understanding the needs of a younger generation,their concerns going beyond caste and class,and that a wise party will take note of it,present a united front,keeping internal bickerings under total control and command the respect of voters as Nehru did. He also talks about the paucity of national leaders despite the abundance of regional leaders. Narendra Modi has done extraordinarily well in Gujarat even his worst enemy cannot but admit to it but where does he stand in the party? he asks.
Trust the temple
The RSS believes nobody should be allowed to meddle with the wealth found at the Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram. Ram Madhav,spokeperson for the RSS,writes in an Organiser article that it is safe only in the hands of the deity,and no one else not even government-run trusts should handle it.
It says that the royal familys enormous commitment to the presiding deity must be acknowledged,in safeguarding the wealth despite the dip in their financial fortunes. Madhav writes that the ongoing litigation that led to the opening of the temples locked chambers appears to be motivated by sinister designs.
This litigation has brought back into focus the critical issue of the control of Hindu temples by the political establishment. Temples and their entire wealth whether lands or offerings or antiques should belong to Hindu society only. There is a need to amend or discard the Hindu Endowment Act so that the religious places of Hindus become the property of society rather than the government, he says.
Madhav argues that the Kerala chief minister had been sensible in declaring that his government has no interest in taking over the wealth or management of the temple. Suggestions by sections of the media and intelligentsia,like creating a museum or trust are also too premature. What is needed is for the entire Hindu society,including saints and spiritual leaders,to vociferously oppose any move to take over the temple or its wealth. Let it be protected by the management as before, he says.
NAC-do spirit
Panchjanya has an editorial on the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council,which,it says,exists as a parallel government. It says the NAC is a direct result of Sonia Gandhis ambition of remaining super-prime minister and that it has substantially weakened the prime ministers office. The office of the prime minister is the soul of Parliamentary democracy. It is its main pole. This has been proven by everyone from Nehru,Lal Bahadur Shashtri,Indira Gandhi,Morarji Desai,Rajiv Gandhi,to Vishwanath Pratap Singh,and Atal Bihari Vajpayee,all of whom led with the strength and respect at their command. But the way the prime minister is being treated today has not only damaged the integrity of the person sitting in that office,but completely undermined the importance,influence and respect of the institution, the article says.
The NAC,it argues,has put a question mark on the supremacy of Parliament,and is working towards making both the legislative and executive branches of democracy its rubber stamp. It criticises the NAC-drafted Communal Violence bill,saying the people roped in to draft the legislation firmly believe in the theory that a Muslim or a Christian can never be a criminal and a Hindu can never be innocent.
