"Notice the controversies which were kicked up over the telecasting of Ramayana and Chanakya, notice the hesitations on account of which the telecasting of Krishna was delayed for months and months. And notice too that these controversies were kicked up by columnists and the like - not by the common masses they so adore - and the hesitations hobbled politicians and civil servants - not the masses. .... we are taught to look upon Ramayana or Mahabharata or the story of Chanakya as "communal", and the legends of Shivaji and Rana Pratap as "revanchist"..."
January 1, 1970
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ramayan_(1987_TV_series)