Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader T. K. S. Elangovan on Friday voiced his apprehension over the live telecast of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's speech on Doordarshan, saying the government should be careful as this will set an example for others.
Elangovan said that there is nothing wrong in telecasting the speeches of the President of India and the Prime Minister on Doordarshan because they are part of the government and they head the government.
"But Mohan Bhagwat is a party man, he belongs to one party. So, the government should be careful in using the government media for such things. It will set an example for others, some others may also claim that we want to address because what authority Mohan Bhagwat has, every political party leader has so," Elangovan told ANI in Chennai.
"So, the government should be careful, this is not fair on part of the government," he added.
In his customary address to the RSS workers on the occasion of Dussehra, which was shown live on Doordarshan for the first time, Bhagwat lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre for its initiatives on national security, economy and international relations.
Commenting on Bhagwat's praise for Prime Minister Modi, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Tariq Anwar said it was very obvious as the RSS is the BJP's ideological parent.
"They will say this because Narendra Modi is their nominee, a nominee of RSS. It is no use praising your own self. If others would praise, then only it would be a matter of fact," he told ANI in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi defended the RSS chief's address and said that Bhagwat has only said what the nation wants.
"The whole of RSS chief's address, in a nutshell, can be defined as a pledge and message of cultured India, safe and secured India, prosperous India and indigenous India. Definitely, every citizen of the country would like to have all these features in their country. Bhagwat has just echoed that pledge in front of the country," he added.
In his address, the RSS chief also spoke about the nation's rich heritage and called upon all fellow Indians to behave in a mature manner as they belong to the oldest civilization of the world.
Lauding the positive growth that has taken place under Prime Minister Modi's leadership, Bhagwat said: "The image of India that we have in our dreams, which we have in our minds, maybe this time under the leadership of the present government we are walking towards that goal step by step. This is good, something we should be happy about and they have not completed six months yet."
Bhagwat also lauded the efforts of the Centre and volunteers of the RSS for undertaking rescue works in Jammu and Kashmir which has recently witnessed the worst-ever floods.
