RSS chief backs Modi as PM, takes on Nitish Kumar - Tribune
RSS chief backs Modi as PM, takes on Nitish Kumar
Anita Katyal/TNS
New Delhi, June 20
The already tenuous relationship between NDA partners Janata Dal(U) and the BJP has come under fresh strain.
JD(U) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar created a flutter yesterday when he took aim at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying the NDA should project a secular Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 General Elections.
Today, BJP's parent body -- the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) -- responded by speaking out in favour of the Gujarat strongman in a bid to put an end to this debate. Addressing a closed door meeting of RSS volunteers, party chief Mohan Bhagwat took on Nitish Kumar.
Stating that the country should have a Prime Minister who believes in Hindutva, he said, "To keep alive the Hindutva ideology, the Hindu samaaj should come together. And the country should have a Prime Minister who believes in that ideology."
Taking a cue from the position articulated by the Sangh, the BJP followed by hitting out at Nitish Kumar. "We want to make it clear we have not given the authority to anyone to give certificates of secularism to individuals with us within the BJP," party leader Balbir Punj said today.
However, there was no stopping the war of words. JD(U) spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari retaliated by warning the BJP that their alliance would be seriously endangered if it did not desist from projecting Modi as the NDA's Prime Ministerial candidate. "The NDA cannot come to power with a fanatic face," he declared, adding there could be no compromise on secularism.
Nitish Kumar and Modi have never been on cordial terms. Wary of Modi's "communal taint", Nitish Kumar has always kept him at arm's length and even told the BJP that the Gujarat strongman was not welcome to campaign in Bihar during the Assembly polls.
However, the political jostling between the two picked up after last month's BJP national executive meeting in Mumbai that raised expectations about Modi playing a bigger national role. This is clearly not to the liking of Nitish Kumar, who also nurses Prime Ministerial ambitions.
"Like Modi, Nitish also wants to acquire a national image. He believes that taking an anti-Modi stand gives him a national image," remarked a senior BJP leader.
BJP insiders said that Nitish Kumar was using every opportunity to hit out at them. The debate over the PM candidate for the 2014 elections has surfaced at a time when the JD(U) is not in agreement with the BJP over opposing UPA's Presidential candidate, Pranab Mukherjee.
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Congress criticises RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat - Times of India
ALLAHABAD: At a meeting of Congressmen held on Wednesday, speakers criticised the statement of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat wherein he had stated that prime minister of the country should be pan-Hindu.
Congress leader Hardev Singh said the partition of the country took place in the wake of policies of the RSS and now it is once again trying to divide a secular country like India on religious lines by propogating the ideal of Hinduism. This would make a dent on the image of the country and sow seeds of division, he added.
He warned that if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and RSS would contest parliamentary elections under the leadership of a communal person like Narendra Modi they would meet the same fate as that of Hitler and his party. tnn
RSS’s unsecular disservice to NaMo - Hindustan Times
I admire Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi — forget the economic parameters of the state, you just need to go out at 1 am in the morning in Baroda to see and experience the huge number of women and men walking on the roads, free from any threat, real or imagined. That state, when you know that the chances of your being assaulted at that time are close to zero, is to my mind the epitome of security, the first dharma of governance. This sense of security has attracted carmakers like Tata and Ford to Gujarat, a feat that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is only beginning to aspire for.
So, as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), when Kumar said that the “leader of the coalition should have secular credentials and a liberal frame of mind”, Modi followers seem to have taken it as an attack on Modi’s perceived non-secular credentials, following his abysmal and shameful mis-governance during the riots at Godhra in February 2002. I see nothing wrong with what Kumar has said. Of course, not only the leader of any political alliance that aspires to govern India, but any citizen of India must be secular. What else can s/he be — a Hindu, a Muslim, a Sikh and so on?
The RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) feels otherwise. “To keep alive the Hindutva ideology, the Hindu ‘samaaj’ (society) should come together,” RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat told reporters today. “And the country should have a prime minister who believes in that ideology or propounds that view.” Nothing could be more dangerous or more divisive for India than such an ideology. Were Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Rajiv Gandhi ‘Hindu’ prime ministers? Is Manmohan Singh a ‘Sikh’ prime minister? Thank whichever god you believe in that that is not the case — irrespective of personal faith, India is yet to see a single prime minister who is as rabid about his religion as many in Islamic nations are about theirs.
As we all know, in the path shown by Vinayak Damodar (Veer) Savarkar, for RSS, you can’t be an Indian without being a Hindu. Lace that thought with a political agenda and the foregone conclusion is the creation of a Hindu nation. “For the RSS, Indian identity is the same as Hindu identity, and all members of religious minorities — mostly Muslims and Christians — should pay allegiance to the dominant religious community, at least in the public space,” writes Ingrid Therwath, head of the International Relations department at the Delhi-based Centre de Sciences Humaines, in Cyber-Hindutva: Hindu nationalism, the diaspora and the Web, a recent report I wrote about last week.
Do Indian Hindus want India to be a Hindu state? The rising tide of angry cyber-Hindus aside, most Hindus I know are very happy and secure being secular. While the word signifies a religion-indifferent nation, angry Hindus believe secularism has meant that followers of the world’s oldest religion have lost out, that the word ‘secular’ is really pseudo-secularism, that Hindus are being victimised in “their own home”. This false notion needs to end, but like all who revel in the glory of persecution complex, this is not going to happen soon.
At another level, if it is political change that is being sought — as Bhagwat’s statement suggests — they will have to walk the arduous road towards that regressive state. It is no longer a fringe that can define or change this. Secularism is now a Constitutional provision, through the 42nd amendment in 1976. To change this, the majority in Lok Sabha must belong to those who believe in the Hindu Rashtra theory. With the grace of all gods — Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist and many more — that is not going to happen soon.
But in the interim, Bhagwat has done a terrible disservice to Modi by strengthening the impression that Modi stands for a Hindu identity, that if he becomes India’s prime minister he will push for the Hindutva notion of our nation. Modi will have to come clean on this himself. If he, as the prime ministerial candidate, walks towards a Hindu Rashtra, the alienation of BJP is destined. And unfortunately, the freedoms enjoyed by the citizens of Gujarat will not be available to the rest of us.
RSS rallies behind Modi - Asian Age
The secularism-Hindutva battle intensified Wednesday with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat rallying behind Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, saying the country needed a “Hindu” leader.
Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar had decided to take on Mr Modi when the Bharatiya Janata Party, at its Mumbai national executive, wanted to name Mr Modi chairman of its campaign and selection committee. This would have been a clear signal that the party wanted to project Mr Modi as its prime ministerial candidate for 2014.
Mr Nitish Kumar, who has to cater to Bihar’s Muslim votebank, made it clear the NDA needed a secular face, sources said. However, despite the war of words, sources said Mr Kumar had “assured the BJP leadership he will not quit the NDA”.
A BJP leader claimed the move to pick Mr Modi as head of the BJP campaign and selection committee was also “conveyed to Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik and Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa”, It was said if the BJP managed to get 200 seats in the 2014 general election on its own, the party will project Mr Modi as Prime Minister. “Naveen Patnaik and Jayalalithaa had no issues, but Nitish needs to cater to the Muslim votebank in Bihar”, the BJP leader added.
Some BJP leaders were apparently taken unawares by the RSS chief’s anti-Nitish remarks. There were whispers in saffron circles that the RSS chief and others like Balbir Punj should have been restrained in attacking Mr Kumar.
RSS backs Narendra Modi as prime ministerial candidate - Daily Pioneer
"To keep alive the Hindutva ideology, the Hindu 'samaaj' (society) should come together. And the country should have a prime minister who believes in that ideology or propounds that view," Bhagwat told reporters here.
Bhagwat's comments came a day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar hit out at Narendra Modi without naming him and said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, should announce a secular prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Nitish Kumar Tuesday made it clear that Modi is unacceptable as an NDA candidate for prime ministership.
"Will Nitish decide what sort of person makes a good PM?" Bhagwat questioned.
He also slammed Nitish Kumar and said that he is scared to call himself a Hindu.
The Nitish-Modi rivalry has been on a high for the past few days. Modi took a dig at politicians from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for what the Gujarat chief minister called "resort to caste-based politics".
Nitish Kumar then said that Modi, who has been a constant irritant in the JD(U)-BJP coalition ties in Bihar, should mind his own business instead of making comments on others.
Wakestock to be first UK festival to use wristbands - BBC News
Wakestock will become the first multi-day festival in the UK to use wristbands instead of paper tickets this summer.
The event takes place between 6-8 July at Cardigan Bay in north Wales.
Red Hot Chili Peppers will be the first band to use wristbands instead of tickets at an outdoor concert in the UK at Knebworth House this Saturday.
Wireless and the Isle of Wight Festival are both also planning to use cashless payment systems this year.
Wristbands are scanned as music fans enter and leave venues or areas
Wristbands are already widely used at concerts in north America.
Coachella in California has used ticketless systems since 2010 which include integrated social media tools so festival-goers can check-in.
Wristbands arrived in Europe earlier this year and were used at Eurosonic Noorderslag festival in Groningen, The Netherlands.
SmartphonesThe wristbands look like standard material festival bands but are fitted with a microchip instead.
It is a similar technology to London's Oyster card public transport swipe cards and uses radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology.
People are registered in and out of venues or arenas with either turnstiles or hand-held devices scanning their wristbands, with organisers able to track the data.
Wakestock is a wakeboarding and music festival
Glastonbury's Michael Eavis was one of the promoters taking a look at the technology in January at Eurosonic Noorderslag festival and says it could be used at Worthy Farm in the future.
At Wakestock, festival-goers can choose to link bands to their social media profiles or used to enter competitions associated with the event.
The promoter of the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert and Wakestock, Stuart Galbraith, said: "We've been waiting for the opportunity to use RFID technology for a while.
"It's a great way to enhance and grow the customer experience for concerts and festivals of the future.
"We are very excited to be working with Samsung and Intellitix in being one of the first UK promoters to embrace this new technology and look forward to developing adaptations across many events."
Samsung says festival-goers will be able to use their smartphones as tickets soon as well.
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