Organiser Links IIT Suicide, EC Row, UPI Protests to ‘Cabal’
“Undermining brand Bharat in the name of democratic rights and agitations has become a fashion,” the RSS-affiliated magazine Organiser has said, linking current protests over various issues — ranging from an IIT Bombay student’s suicide and the Election Commission (EC)’s controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on UPI transactions — to what it called the activities of a “Communist-Islamist cabal”.
In an editorial in the latest issue of the magazine, Organiser editor Prafulla Ketkar said: “Fuelling protests, invoking caste sentiments in every issue, creating alienation towards the Government and discrediting institutions is the new modus operandi of a Communist-Islamist cabal.”
He also alleged that “anti-Bharat forces from outside” were “encouraging and funding these agitations” and that some Opposition parties were “falling prey to this game for short-term political ends”.
Titled “Protest Season – IIT Bombay, Election Commission & UPI: Saving Gandhi and Ambedkar from Marx and Mao”, the Organiser’s September 28 editorial argues that a new cycle of protests has begun in the wake of what it calls the “‘Constitution under threat’ narrative” used during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It claims that “identity-based machinations” are now using youth by combining issues of education with caste identities, adding that the trend could continue until the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections or even the 2029 Lok Sabha polls.
While acknowledging that “protests and agitations are natural expressions” in a democracy, Ketkar stated that the use of Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas of Satyagraha and B R Ambedkar’s imagery by Communists inspired by Marx and Mao was “problematic”. The editorial argues that the Gandhian methods of peaceful resistance were being combined with Marxist and Maoist political objectives.
Citing the recent suicide of an IIT Bombay student, the editorial questioned attempts to link his death to caste discrimination. It said alleged cheating in an examination and subsequent disciplinary action had been turned into “a caste-based discrimination issue”.
“If IIT students, irrespective of caste, are unable to handle the mental pressure and resort to an extreme step like suicide, it requires introspection, not agitation,” Ketkar wrote. He argued that the questions of family and social pressure and mental health should also be examined and said “ideological activism” should not be allowed to “undermine the IIT brand that symbolises excellence”.
The editorial similarly targeted the questioning of the EC’s functioning and the SIR. It alleged that representing internal conversations between the Election Commissioners in a manner that discredited electoral democracy was “part of the same machinations”. Referring to questions raised over the EVMs and the SIR, it asked: “Is it a coincidence, or a pattern we need to decode?”
UPI levy row
Significantly, the editorial also defended the proposed MDR on UPI transactions — an issue on which another RSS affiliate, Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), has taken a conflicting position.
Referring to the proposed MDR of up to 0.4 per cent on commercial transactions above Rs 2,000, the editorial said it “may become another protesting issue”. It argued that the levy would not affect individual money transfers and that, even for merchandise transactions, the cost would be “minimal” and lower than ATM withdrawals or credit-card payments.
“Again, UPI is Bharat’s technological brand, accepted and respected worldwide. The people challenging the success of UPI technology in rural Bharat are the same ones instigating certain groups through misinformation. Ultimately, they undermine our national technological achievement,” Ketkar wrote.
This position, however, contrasts with the one taken by the SJM, which recently asked the Modi government to withhold the move enabling MDR on UPI transactions.
In a statement, SJM national co-convener Ashwani Mahajan had argued that permitting banks and other notified electronic payment providers to levy MDR could undermine UPI and shift the balance in favour of the international card companies such as Visa and Mastercard.
“UPI is the successful story of the decade,” the SJM said, warning that MDR could potentially allow global payment companies to regain ground in India.
The SJM even bracketed the MDR decision with the government’s move allowing e-commerce companies to hold inventory for exports, describing the two measures as apparent “unnecessary goodwill” gestures in the context of India-US trade negotiations and calling for their reconsideration.
Attack on Congress
The Organiser editorial went on to accuse Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party of allegedly “piggybacking on Marxists and Maoists, along with Islamists” to spread “fear, hatred and anarchic conditions through misinformation and disinformation”.
It described the current situation as a “war against resurgent Bharat” in which protests were being “manufactured” to create social fragmentation and political instability, and argued that caste, linguistic and religious identities were being weaponised.
Invoking Gandhi and Ambedkar, Ketkar argued that both, despite their differences over caste representation, untouchability and the village as a social unit, were committed to democratic and non-violent methods. He concluded that “saving Gandhiji and Babasaheb Ambedkar from Marxist-Maoist radicalism” was necessary for peaceful and democratic social transformation.
