Anti-Church article in BJP mag exposes split in Sangh Parivar
The article carried in the April issue had angered Christian community, and it sought action against editor Anil Soumitra.
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The fallout has nothing to do with the controversial article, but it exposes the recrimination within the Sangh Parivar, reports the Indian Express.
The article carried in the April issue had angered Christian community, and it sought action against editor Anil Soumitra and the monthly, printed in the state BJP headquarters in Bhopal.
While the police did not register any case, the controversy has exposed differences between Soumitra, an RSS activist, and publication's secretary Hitesh Bajpai, who is in-charge of BJP's media cell.
Both accused each other of minting money in the publication's name by taking government advertisements and by committing other financial irregularities. Both denied charges and blamed each other for mudslinging.
Soumitra was summarily sacked and the entire committee was replaced with new members except its president Sumitra Mahajan, a BJP Lok Sabha member from Indore, who has been the president for last three years.
"I have been treated like a criminal. I was selected as editor due to my RSS background and ideological commitment,'' Soumitra said in a letter to Mahajan asking if he had been removed at the instance of Christian organizations or the Congress party.
The editor of 18 months has marked copies of his letter to top RSS functionaries and BJP leaders at national level, hinting at a larger power struggle within the party.
The sacked editor alleged that the publication committee did not meet even once in last three years, did not audit its records or filed income-tax returns, and wondered why Bajpai was only replaced, not penalized.
"Does the BJP reward those who commit irregularities and, don't carry out their responsibilities?'' Soumitra asked and added that two more articles about the Church in its December issue went unnoticed.
Source: Indian Express
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