Journos "insulted", told to leave RSS-sponsored women's wing meet at disputed site on child development

Rostrum of the RSS-sponsored meet

By Nachiketa Desai*
Journalists and press photographers from Ahmedabad were invited to attend the inaugural session of a two-day all-India workshop of the women volunteers and office-bearers of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at a Hindu temple-cum-educational institution complex at Pirana village, some 25 km away from the city.
They were told to come to the office of the Vishwa Samwad Kendra, an outfit of the RSS which operates in the heart of Ahmedabad, in the Ellisbrige area, by 8.30 am. They were taken about 25 km away to the workshop venue, and chaperoned to the front row supposed to be reserved for the media.
The function started at 10 am sharp with the lighting up of lamp by Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel and singing of a prayer in chorus. The mahant was seated on a seat fashioned after a crude throne while the chief minister sat in a small chair next to him.
The two-day meet kicked off on Saturday, interestingly, on what has been dubbed as a disputed site of Imam Shah Bawa dargah at Pirana, a sufi shrine where Hindus and Muslims have been offering prayers for centuries. This is for the first time that a chief minister attended an event at this site.
After a brief welcome speech by the local organizer and introduction of those seated on the stage, Gitatai Gunde, convener of the national coordination committee of all the women's outfits of RSS -- Akhil Bharatiya Mahila Samiti Samanvay Samiti – was invited to give an introduction of her organization.
Before she started her speech, an announcement was made that all journalists should vacate their seats and leave the meeting hall as light refreshment awaited them in the basement of the building. The journalists said they would prefer to remain present for the speeches to get over and only then break for refreshment.

At this stage, Gunde commanded the journalists and press photographers to vacate the hall immediately so that she could continue with her speech. This was around 10.10 am. The organizers had clearly mentioned in the invitation card that journalists would be allowed to attend the function till 10.30. But no, Gunde would not allow them to sit any longer.
So, the journalists left the place muttering, "This is our insult. Why did you invite us if not allowed to report the speeches?" The organizers tried to persuade them to go to the basement for refreshment. But journalists refused saying, "We would rather listen to the speeches."
In about five minutes, the journalists were told to take their seats in the hall. But no sooner did they take their seats, Gunde started admonishing them again. "Why have you come back? You have been told to get out, can't you follow what we want you to do?", she shouted from the public address system.
Insulted thus, not once, but twice, in the presence of the chief minister, the journalists decided to leave for Ahmedabad without having snacks and tea. The journalists and photographers were from The Times of India, DNA, India Today, UNI and a couple of TV channels.
What surprised the scribes was, the organizers had declared the event was being held after a gap of after 15 years, when it had organised a similar event and the agenda of the workshop was on economy. This time, the topic of discussion, they were told, would be purely social, mainly related to related child development – its problems and solutions.
Among those who were to lecture the 300-odd participants, women and men, on child development issues included senior RSS officer bearers Krishnagopal and Anirudh Deshpande, apart from Gunde and the Gujarat chief minister.
---
*Consulting political editor, UNI

Comments

Anonymous said…

Goondaraj

September 12, 2015

Unknown said…

Vinaash kaale vipreet buddhi. Well this is an exhibition of RSS brand of Bhartiy sanskriti (Indian culture). The moto of Indian culture used to respect the guests like gods. They hv turned it up side down.

September 12, 2015

Vaccine nationalism? Covaxin isn't safe either, perhaps it's worse: Experts

By Rajiv Shah I was a little awestruck: The news had already spread that Astrazeneca – whose Indian variant Covishield was delivered to nearly 80% of Indian vaccine recipients during the Covid-19 era – has been withdrawn by the manufacturers following the admission by its UK pharma giant that its Covid-19 vector-based vaccine in “rare” instances cause TTS, or “thrombocytopenia thrombosis syndrome”, which lead to the blood to clump and form clots. The vaccine reportedly led to at least 81 deaths in the UK.

'Scientifically flawed': 22 examples of the failure of vaccine passports

By Vratesh Srivastava* Vaccine passports were introduced in late 2021 in a number of places across the world, with the primary objective of curtailing community spread and inducing "vaccine hesitant" people to get vaccinated, ostensibly to ensure herd immunity. The case for vaccine passports was scientifically flawed and ethically questionable.

'Misleading' ads: Are our celebrities and public figures acting responsibly?

By Deepika* It is imperative for celebrities and public figures to act responsibly while endorsing a consumer product, the Supreme Court said as it recently clamped down on misleading advertisements.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

Magnetic, stunning, Protima Bedi 'exposed' malice of sexual repression in society

By Harsh Thakor* Protima Bedi was born to a baniya businessman and a Bengali mother as Protima Gupta in Delhi in 1949. Her father was a small-time trader, who was thrown out of his family for marrying a dark Bengali women. The theme of her early life was to rebel against traditional bondage. It was extraordinary how Protima underwent a metamorphosis from a conventional convent-educated girl into a freak. On October 12th was her 75th birthday; earlier this year, on August 18th it was her 25th death anniversary.

Palm oil industry deceptively using geenwashing to market products

By Athena* Corporate hypocrisy is a masterclass in manipulation that mostly remains undetected by consumers and citizens. Companies often boast about their environmental and social responsibilities. Yet their actions betray these promises, creating a chasm between their public image and the grim on-the-ground reality. This duplicity and severely erodes public trust and undermines the strong foundations of our society.

'Fake encounter': 12 Adivasis killed being dubbed Maoists, says FACAM

Counterview Desk The civil rights network* Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM), even as condemn what it has called "fake encounter" of 12 Adivasi villagers in Gangaloor, has taken strong exception to they being presented by the authorities as Maoists.

No compensation to family, reluctance to file FIR: Manual scavengers' death

By Arun Khote, Sanjeev Kumar* Recently, there have been four instances of horrifying deaths of sewer/septic tank workers in Uttar Pradesh. On 2 May, 2024, Shobran Yadav, 56, and his son Sushil Yadav, 28, died from suffocation while cleaning a sewer line in Lucknow’s Wazirganj area. In another incident on 3 May 2024, two workers Nooni Mandal, 36 and Kokan Mandal aka Tapan Mandal, 40 were killed while cleaning the septic tank in a house in Noida, Sector 26. The two workers were residents of Malda district of West Bengal and lived in the slum area of Noida Sector 9.

India 'not keen' on legally binding global treaty to reduce plastic production

By Rajiv Shah Even as offering lip-service to the United Nations Environment Agency (UNEA) for the need to curb plastic production, the Government of India appears reluctant in reducing the production of plastic. A senior participant at the UNEP’s fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4), which took place in Ottawa in April last week, told a plastics pollution seminar that India, along with China and Russia, did not want any legally binding agreement for curbing plastic pollution.

Mired in controversy, India's polio jab programme 'led to suffering, misery'

By Vratesh Srivastava* Following the 1988 World Health Assembly declaration to eradicate polio by the year 2000, to which India was a signatory, India ran intensive pulse polio immunization campaigns since 1995. After 19 years, in 2014, polio was declared officially eradicated in India. India was formally acknowledged by WHO as being free of polio.

Counterview

Search This Blog