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Journalism is one of the professions where one does not have to wear a uniform to work. Nor does one have to dress in the colours of a political party, or organisation to cover its events. However the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) does not agree. According to a report in Times of India, three media persons who went to cover an RSS event, which was attended by its chief Mohan Bhagwat, were denied entry for “not wearing Ganvesh”, or the uniform of the sangh.
The uniform that RSS members wear was once identifiable by the billowy skirt-like shorts that the men wore for nearly 90 years, however those khaki knickers were replaced with brown trousers from October 11, 2016. The rest of the uniform includes a black cap, white full-sleeved shirt, canvas belt, brown socks, and black shoes.
The uniform is mandatory for RSS members during its official meetings, however this mandate was bizarrely extended to journalists covering an event in Karnataka’s Kalaburagi, reporting TOI. Two journalists and a photographer working with local dailies were reportedly stopped from covering the sangh’s annual Sankranti Utsava on Thursday, by RSS workers manning the venue’s entrance. The RSS workers reportedly insisted that the media covering the event too should be dressed in the sangh’s uniform. Vijay Mahatesh, a pracharak from Kalaburagi, reportedly said he had told all journalists covering the Sankranti Utsav to come in the mandated uniform.
“How can they expect a journalist to wear a particular uniform?” one of the three journalists raised an objection. In damage control attempts later, RSS Uttara Pranth Baudhik Pramukh, Krishna Joshi claimed that no official invite was sent out to the media but local workers had told mediapersons that they could cover the event provided they come in uniform. Joshi added, “Our workers who did not come in the RSS uniform too were sent back. Reporters who had come in the uniform were allowed to cover the event.” It is not known who these ‘reporters’ clad in RSS gear were, but the so-called clarification does not hold water.
Joshi told the media that “at an earlier event for which the Sangh had invited journalists, uniform was not mandatory.”
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