Doordarshan asks CPI leader to remove references to RSS, fascist ideology, Hitler in speech

Yesterday, Rajya Sabha MP and CPI secretary Binoy Viswam refused to record an election campaign message to be broadcast by Doordarshan after Prasar Bharati “censored” portions of his speech related to the RSS and fascist ideology. Viswam subsequently said he would take the matter to the Election Commission as the government was being “authoritarian, autocratic and fascist and the Doordarshan is proving that they are his master’s voice”.

Indian Express reports: “Viswam was to record the message for which five minutes had been allocated. Viswam said the party had submitted the transcript in advance but Prasar Bharati officials asked him to revise a paragraph and remove a line from the speech when he went to the studio Thursday.”

A letter from Prasar Bharati said their “script vetting committee comprises of independent citizens of eminence” and that Prasar Bharati has “no role in the script vetting process”.

The paragraph in question said: “Dalits, adivasis, minorities and women were tortured and suppressed by the NDA government which was led by the ideology of racial supremacy preached by RSS. They borrowed it from the school of Mussolini and Hitler. Their doctrine was always subservient to the interests of the rich and casteist communal forces. If these same forces recapture power once again it will be the end of India’s cultural diversity.”