View from the right: Icons of Samskara
Sachin Tendulkars announcement of his retirement has evoked laudatory farewells from the Sangh Parivar weeklies.
ICONS OF SAMSKARA
Sachin Tendulkar’s announcement of his retirement has evoked laudatory farewells from the Sangh Parivar weeklies. Rahul Dravid,who retired from T20 along with Tendulkar,has also come in for praise. Instead of their cricket records,both journals highlight their virtues and “samskaras” as examples for generations to come.
“The foundational values of humility,integrity,commitment and team spirit exemplified by [the two cricket legends will never retire,” the Organiser says on its cover,while its editorial reminds readers that Tendulkar and Dravid had “different styles,[but the same foundation” of the “similar virtues” of humility and hard work that they “inherited” from their families.
“The legends exhibited different kind of Indianness by recognising ‘family’ as their first source of inspiration and learning. The samskaras they inherited through their family made them trustworthy and gentle,” claims the editorial.
“Personality cult is a bad thing. Sachin,we do not want
to idolise you in that fashion because cricket is not all about life. But we want to amplify your mantra of hard work,which takes people to positive heights in various fields,” the editorial in Panchjanya says,asserting that “whatever be the field or sport we will remember your lessons”.
TOTAL RECALL 1977
As the Lok Sabha elections draw closer,the Sangh Parivar appears to be increasingly sensing a repeat of 1977 and finds Narendra Modi the lone champion of the anti-Congress sentiment in the country. “The country is passing through an atmosphere similar to 1977,” says a full-page analysis in the Organiser,with photographs of large crowds being addressed by JP and Narendra Modi. The article provides a unique reason to buttress its claim in the backdrop of Rahul Gandhi’s successful attempt in stalling the convicted legislators ordinance.
“Only the stories of ‘Mom and Son’ were doing the rounds (at the time of Emergency). ‘Mom’ was Indira Gandhi and ‘Son’ was Sanjay Gandhi. The government would dance to the tunes of the ‘Son’ exactly as of the present times,” says the article,but with two minor caveats. The only difference is that while “the entire cabinet bows down to the whims of the ‘Son’” today,there is no Emergency.
Second,“then the mother and the son were blamed for Emergency,while today they have nominated Manmohan Singh for it”.
The Organiser article highlights Anna Hazare’s agitation as the mark of the beginning of the disenchantment with the ruling establishment,but another full-page article in Panchjanya alleges that Arvind Kejriwal is staging a “political kidnapping” of the agitation: “How ironical is it that the Anna agitation is slated for the same fate as the JP agitation. The Kejriwal cabal has used its skills to politically kidnap Anna’s agitation…”
J&K AND AF-PAK
Both Sangh Parivar weeklies express concern about the recent reported incidents of infiltration attempts across the border in Jammu and Kashmir. An article in the Organiser wonders if the recent army operation against infiltrators in the Keran sector was “another Kargil”? It suggests that this spurt in infiltration attempts may be an indicator of things to come when NATO forces pull out of Afghanistan next year.
Compiled by Ravish Tiwari
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