RSS-linked magazine alleges protests over EC row, IIT suicide are coordinated by 'Communist-Islamist cabal'
An RSS-affiliated magazine has alleged that ongoing protests over multiple issues — including an IIT Bombay student's suicide, the Election Commission's controversial Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, and Merchant Discount Rate changes on UPI transactions — are coordinated efforts by a "Communist-Islamist cabal." In an editorial, Organiser editor Prafulla Ketkar claimed that "anti-Bharat forces from outside" are "encouraging and funding these agitations" and that some Opposition parties are "falling prey to this game for short-term political ends."
The magazine's September 28 editorial, titled "Protest Season – IIT Bombay, Election Commission UPI: Saving Gandhi and Ambedkar from Marx and Mao," argues that a new cycle of protests has begun following the "'Constitution under threat' narrative" used during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Organiser claims that "identity-based machinations" are using youth by combining issues of education with caste identities. The editorial states that "undermining brand Bharat in the name of democratic rights and agitations has become a fashion" and describes "fuelling protests, invoking caste sentiments in every issue, creating alienation towards the Government and discrediting institutions" as the "modus operandi" of this alleged cabal.
Ketkar acknowledged that "protests and agitations are natural expressions" in a democracy but questioned the use of Mahatma Gandhi's Satyagraha principles and B R Ambedkar's imagery combined with Marxist and Maoist objectives. Regarding the IIT Bombay student's death, the editorial disputed attempts to link it to caste discrimination, stating that alleged cheating and disciplinary action had been reframed as a "caste-based discrimination issue."
