Nitin Gadkari speaks to NDTV on RSS speech row.

Nitin Gadkari, senior union minister, says state-run Doordarshan was correct in telecasting last week's speech of the chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a move described by opposition parties as a dangerous precedent."If Doordarshan can show Nawaz Sharif at the Jama Masjid, why should it not be allowed to show the RSS chief?" said Mr Gadkari in an interview to NDTV.In May, Mr Sharif, the Pakistani Prime Minister, visited Delhi to attend the swearing-in of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visited the famous 17th-century Jama Masjid mosque in the capital.The RSS is the ideological parent of the BJP. Critics denounce it as an organization that pushes a right-wing sectarian agenda and say it should therefore not be promoted with taxpayers' money. The annual speech on the festival of Dusshera or Vijaya Dashami, given by Mohan Bhagwat, who heads the RSS, was shown live on Friday by public broadcaster Doordarshan for the first time this year."The RSS isn't a religious organization, it is a cultural oragnisation. You have never understood the RSS. You sit in a studio in Delhi and bash the RSS. Do some research on the RSS," said Mr Gadkari.Senior Doordarshan officials have said the RSS chief's speech was newsworthy and therefore merited a live telecast. The BJP, whose top leaders include many who spent years volunteering with the RSS - including the Prime Minister - says the speech promoted patriotism.

Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, said last week that the government does not interfere with or influence Doordarshan's editorial decisions. However, he said he agrees that the event was news-worthy and said the previous government, headed by the Congress, ought to explain "why the same speech had not been broadcast for the 10 years that it was in power."