Please see this clip taken mischievously out of context.

When the Sarsanghchalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Mohan Bhagwat said this (Doordarshan par kya dekhna hai, ye to apne haath mein hai) in his Vijaya Dashami day speech, was he cocking a snook at those whining about him being aired live on Doordarshan (DD), was it a Freudian slip or was it an innocent statement by a stodgy old uncle who didn’t realise how cheeky that sounded? But that’s insignificant. Complain all you like, but get used to seeing more of this on DD and even some private TV channels.

While I don’t think Mohan Bhagwat’s speech being aired live on DD was such a great idea, it’s not such a terrible thing either.  I’ll explain why, but first some points the patriarch made in his speech.

Bhagwat started with a lament about how leaders the world over make rhetorical speeches on protecting the environment and building a better and more just world, while their governments do the opposite. He then went on to do exactly that in his hour-long speech, which had more irony than a Shakespearean tragedy. (You can skip the bullet points in case you don’t care to know what he said.)

– The first few minutes of the speech were all about the environment. He stressed that if we have no trees and don’t protect the environment we cannot prosper. There is no development without protecting the environment. Rhetoric – check.

– He went on to blame “upbhogtavad” or consumerism as the cause of this environmental destruction. Consumerism and greed ensure exploitative policies and trade practices which leads to “kattarpan” in thought and action. Consequently, kattar organizations like ISIS are born, because of consumer-driven exploitative “bahurashtriya” MNCs. Doesn’t that sound like it’s right out of the Communist manifesto? I’m sure many bhakta jan were left confused by that opening. Due to upbhogtavad, “swartha prerit ho jata hai”, and ISIS is the product of the greed-for-oil in the Middle-East by MNCs. Take that Modi’s America. Irony – check.

– There was the bit about “anek roop lekin sab apne hi hain” – the unity in diversity thing. Rhetoric – check.

– There was “Is algao ko lekar kisi par apna mat thopne ki cheshta mat karo”, and “Baudhik samwad mein sab tarah ki mukta-ta. Lekin vyavahar mein apnepan ka vyavahar karo”. Also “Vividhataon ko sweekar karo. Samman karo”.  Don’t force your point of view on others. Respect freedom of thought and expression. Engage in discussion but accept and respect divergent views. He emphasised that Indians have traveled all over the world, but have never forced their views on others or forced others to change their way of life by destroying temples or idols. With a “mukt man”, or open mind, we put our point across. Bhakta jan were you listening? Rhetoric and irony – check.

– There was “Bharat ka track record hai ki ye kattar nahin hain, dambhi nahin hain, ahankari nahin hain, ye jhagdalu nahin hain.” Jhagdalu nahin hain? Seriously? He’s obviously never accidentally cut in front of a Pajero from Punjabi Bagh or tried his mukt man musings outside Madison Square Garden before a Namo performance. Rhetoric and irony – check.

– There was “Hum apne aap ko sampanna aur surakshit tab kahenge jab aakhri pankti mein khada aakhri vyakti sampanna aur surakshit hai.” Development is only as good as what it does for the weakest and most downtrodden – the last man in the last line. Rhetoric –check.

– There was the token mention of Bapu Gandhi and Ambedkar as thinkers who have shaped India – check.

– The closest he came to what people expect from RSS was when he spoke about increased jihadi activities in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the threat of such activities in Bihar, Assam and Bengal. He said the population composition was getting warped because of intruders from across the border. The politics of appeasement in such places was making Hindus insecure. He also claimed people of Assam and Bengal are leaving farming, which requires hard work, and for a commission getting insurgents ration cards because it’s more profitable.

– There was “Hum Cheen ke saamne dat kar khade rahe…. etc”, the call to help the government take on China’s economic might by not buying products made in China. Right! You’ll have to pry my iPad and iPhone from my cold dead hands.

– And finally there was the call to help the country by making your children contribute to nation-building. Speaking about the acute shortage of officers in the army he said “Apne bachon ko kewal doctor, architect, engineer hi banayenge, ki sena mein, police mein, nyaya palika mein, fauj mein aur patrikarita mein bhejenge?” Hey journalists, even you’re in the list of nation-builders. Well done.

By and large the speech was all that he’d said any leader’s speech is. So what’s the problem? Not like it was compulsory to watch it (like some other events were).

There is a book called “A Bunch of Thoughts”, which is a collection of Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar’s sermons, speeches and writings. While it was Keshav Baliram Hegdewar who founded the RSS, it was Golwalkar (Guruji to all in the Sangh) who made it a force to reckon with. I’m pretty certain many who are part of the army which jumps to the RSS’ defense haven’t read a page. I highly recommend the book to everyone. It’s a good idea to know what you’re defending (or for that matter what you’re opposing). Those who are critical of the RSS will get way more ammunition than pop-news and op-eds can give them, and those defending every aspect of the RSS will find it difficult if not impossible to justify much of what’s in it.

During the 1999 Lok Sabha election result telecast, I was sent to Ahmedabad by TV Today. Those days there were no private news channels and election results were telecast only on DD, through a joint production of TV Today Network and DD. The local correspondent for the English broadcast was the very warm and hospitable Uday Mahurkar from India Today.  Since there were no EVMs, the counting took several days and we had plenty of time to sit around and chat while waiting for results as they trickled in. While talking politics, Uday was aghast when he discovered that I didn’t really know who “Veer” Savarkar was. Uday, who held Vinayak Savarkar (accused, tried and acquitted for Bapu’s murder) in very high esteem, gifted me a book on the Hindu Mahasabha stalwart. Election results coming in slow as hell ensured I devoured the book in two days.  Unfortunately, it did not have the effect Uday desired. From an ignorant indifference to Savarkar, the book (and subsequent reading since my curiosity was piqued) provoked in me an informed dislike for the man. The point is: exposure to that literature didn’t “convert” me.  It’s because I read other things and was exposed to other ideas too. We have that in India now with multiple TV channels and voices. While DD may go on airing every Bhagwat, Togadia, or Yogi Adityanath speech, there are many who won’t. Okay not many, but some. And many will give airtime to conflicting views as well. And that is enough.

Now what effect will the airtime which the extended Sangh Parivar inevitably gets under the present government have on the population? Speeches like the very uninspiring one that Mohan Bhagwat gave will appear increasingly at odds with the basic tenets of RSS, and that can’t impress the base.  Any organisation that doesn’t stay true to its dictum will dissipate or have to evolve. It’s a win-win for India. And if in future the Sarsanghchalak decides to borrow from the writings and thoughts of his predecessors and the tallest leaders who shaped them, the speech will be an embarrassment for the government and make even some pretty hard-core supporters of the Sangh cringe.

The point is that more information and more exposure cannot be a bad thing, as long as it’s not the only information we’re getting. And no matter how much we curse the media, there is some heterogeneity here.

There is the possibility that DD propaganda will influence some who will become sympathetic to Sangh Parivar ideology.  This only means that those of us who disagree with it provide more compelling and better reasons to the contrary. Liberals, having occupied more than their fair share of space in public discourse over decades have gotten lazy, and will now have to fight to reclaim that space.  Let the battle for the Indian mind-space be fought via the quality of arguments. You have to have faith that human minds grow and don’t degenerate (collectively I mean. Yes there are salmon among us) and wiser arguments will prevail. The collective conscience will evolve as long as different and conflicting points of views are available, and they are.

It’s not like the state broadcaster hasn’t been misused for political ends before. The Congress was doing it until a few months ago. Didn’t get them anywhere, did it?

When Sikhs were being burned alive on the streets of Delhi, all that the people of India saw was a grieving Gandhi family, hysterically-crying distraught citizens and a majestically-martyred Indira Gandhi lying in state honours. Back then it was dangerous. There was only DD. Today we have other sources of news and information, and even if most of them are fawning and servile to power (hardly limited or unique to this government or Modi), there are pockets of resistance everywhere, and absolute points of view cannot be thrust down our throats no matter how much governments try.

Mohan Bhagwat said in his speech “The more things change the more they remain the same”. You could’ve fooled me, uncle. Dramatic irony – check!