It was after the murder of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 that the RSS decided to sponsor an all-India political party and an all-India news agency to build adequate political strength for the realisation of its dream of 'Hindu raj' in the country.
However, it was envisaged that none of the proposed two organisations should have any formal connection with the RSS, though both should help each other and be indirectly controlled by the parent organisation.
Thus, the Hindusthan Samachar came into being in 1948 --- two years before the RSS debut in the political arena-with some trusted swayamsevaks like S.S. Apte and Dharmvir Gandhi as the moving spirits.
To camouflage its birthmarks, it was registered as a private limited company in Bombay under M.C. Sharma. Though he played a crucial role in getting the ban on the RSS lifted, Sharma, a professional journalist, became disgusted with RSS functioning mainly of its journalists employees, in 1957. On the face of it, the shareholding was diffused but most of it was confined to RSS people.
Its appearance as a cooperative venture helped the HS to secure many special favours, facilities and concessions including sizeable financial aid from the Union and State Governments and public bodies.
A mask
Working in the garb of a cooperative society, this RSS-controlled news agency made a rapid growth and by 1962 it had over one hundred subscribers. It grew rapidly particularly because the member-employees were all devoted workers of the RSS, interested in building the news agency to further the cause of their political party, the Jana Sangh.
As a policy, the Chairmanship of the HS is entrusted to prominent non-RSS men (the present chairman is Jai Sukh Lal Hathi M.P.). But it is an old RSS trick to use non-RSS men as a cover.
For years, the control has been vested in Vasantrao Oak, vice-chairman of the HS managing committee and Baleshwar Aggrawal, the secretary of the HS Cooperative Society and Managing Editor of the agency. The former was at one time the provincial RSS organiser in Delhi and the latter was an RSS organiser, first in the Benaras Hindu University and then in Bihar.
Other key men in the agency N.B. Lele, Chief Special Correspondent and Hari Dutt Pathak, Chief News Editor, are also drawn from the top rungs of the RSS cadre in Maharashtra and Rajasthan respectively.
The editorial side of the agency at the headquarters in Delhi and the provincial centres is almost wholly staffed by trusted RSS cadres. All the editors-in-charge at various centres were full-time RSS workers before being shifted to the agency.
Great care is taken at the time of recruitment and not only the regular staff but even mofussil correspondents are recruited from amongst the shakha-attending swayamsevaks of RSS. For any other seeking employment, the person must have a certificate from the top RSS bosses. Loyalty to the RSS is the touchstone. For attending the RSS camp, the HS employees are given leave with pay.
The teleprinter services of the HS are utilised by the RSS and Jana Sangh leaders for the personal and party works which is a contravention not only of ethics but also of Post & Telegraphs rules.
The non-RSS employees of the Hindusthan Samachar are generally those who handle non-journalistic jobs like teleprinter operators, routine typists and peons. If any of them shows an interest in reporting or editing, a temptation is made to enlist him into the RSS.
The shakh a-in-charge of the area in which he resides approaches him and tries to cajole him into the shakha. In most cases, the attempt succeeds because the recruits are symathetic to RSS or already non-political people prepared to do anything for a job. If, however, a person does not respond the matter is reported to the bosses and efforts are made to promptly weed him out.
For years the harassment and subtle victimisation of employees has been increasing day by day. While several were forced to resign some were retrenched on one pretext or other. Messrs Sathe, Sharad Dwivedi, R.S. Joshi, Kaul, Bansal, Brahmanand Mishra and Bimal Kumar are the glaring examples of this policy.
Victimization
One of the recent victims of RSS highhandedness in the news agency was R.D. Verma, an accountant in the Delhi office. Verma was a trained officer of the RSS and secretary of the Sarojini Nagar Mandal of the Jana Sangh till March 1972 when breaking his 16-year-old ties with the RSS, he resigned from the JS and joined the Congress (R).
He went on leave to canvass for the Congress candidate in his area, who was contesting amongst others against a Jana Sangh candidate in the last metropolitan council election. The RSS high command instructed the HS management to sack him immediately.
When Verma joined office after the election on 16 March 1972 he was not allowed to enter the accounts section and the bunch of keys was taken away from him. He spent eight days in the office verandah, after which he was asked to explain how he had joined the Congress while serving the Hindusthan Samachar. He, an accountant, was forced to sit in the news section since then.
The harassment continued. Insults by the RSS employees of HS were a day-to-day affair. His salary was delayed and deducted for nothing. For example, the March 1972 salary was paid only on 17 April 1972.
But the situation took a turn for the worse on September 1972 when Verma issued a statement criticising the RSS and the Jana Sangh for making political capital out of the death of Prem Lata, a Harijan girl, which triggered off the recent violence in Karolbagh.
Consequently, was charge-sheeted Verma on 29 September for "availing of leave without prior sanction and misbehaving with the accountant" and sacked after a farcical inquiry.
All this is happening in a news agency whose 50% of revenue comes from government sources All India Radio and the State governments.
New wave
26 November, 1972
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