A Surya Prakash, right-wing columnist and fellow at the New Delhi-based Vivekananda International Foundation think tank, is set to succeed journalist Mrinal Pande as the chairperson of public-service broadcaster Prasar Bharati, officials said on condition of anonymity.



Surya Prakash has already been sounded out about the government’s decision, senior officials said. His name was finalised from among several pro- Modi columnists. Others on the list were Swapan Dasgupta, the Bharatiya Janata Party's most visible face on the news channels, and columnist Kanchan Gupta, officials said.



The Prasar Bharati position has been lying vacant after Mrinal Pande's tenure ended in May. Prasar Bharati, comprising Doordarshan and All India Radio, was established by an Act of Parliament following a demand that government-owned broadcasters should be given autonomy like those in many other countries. Earlier, the DD and AIR were media units of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.



According to his website, Surya Prakash writes columns for The Pioneer, Dainik Jagran, Eenadu, Samyukta Karnataka and The Indian Republic.



Surya Prakash is a Fellow at the Vivekananda International Foundation, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh- linked think tank that has supplied several staffers for the Modi bureaucracy. Among the most prominent VIF-linked bureaucrats in the BJP government are National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Principal Secretary in Prime Minister’s Office Nripendra Misra, and Additional Principal Secretary in PMO PK Misra.



The VIF is affiliated to the Kanyakumari-based Vivekananda Kendra, established by RSS organiser Eknath Ranade in 1970.



Surya Prakash is also a director of another New Delhi-based think tank, India Foundation, which rigorously publicised Modi’s Gujarat Model during the Lok Sabha election campaign. While Ajit Doval was the founder-director of the VIF, his son Shaurya Doval, who is also a BJP leader, has been the moving force behind India Foundation.



In 1998, Surya Prakash wrote a series of articles for The Pioneer about Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's foreign origins. In 2004, he edited a book, Sonia Under Scrutiny – Issue of Foreign Origin. Last year, he authored Public Money, Private Agenda – The Use and Misuse of MPLADS. Earlier in his career, he spent a lot of time investigating the Bofors bribery scandal for the Indian Express.



Surya Prakash’s right-wing leanings have led many to dismiss him as a voice of the Sangh in the media, although he is known to have made every effort to convince his journalistic friends that he should be treated as “secular”.



