Bisheshwar Mishra / New Delhi
Even as former President and veteran Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee today accepted the Rashtriya Swayam Sevek Sangh (RSS) invite to be the chief guest at their function in Nagpur on June 7, the row over his proposed visit continued unabated. While social media is abuzz with sharp comments on former president, many in the Congress party could not stomach the idea and saw it virtually as Mukherjee crossing over into enemy camp.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said if he was at Pranab’s place he would not have accepted the invitation.
Chidambaram said now that the former president has accepted the invitation he should go and tell the RSS “what is wrong” in their ideology.
“Now that he accepted the invitation it is wrong to discuss whether he should have accepted or not. I wouldn’t have accepted. But now that he accepted, he should go there and tell them what is wrong with their ideology,” Chidambaram said.
A former union minister and veteran Congress leader C K Jaffar Sharief urged Mukherjee to reconsider his decision “in the interest of secularism.” In a letter to the former President Sharief said, “Congressmen besides secular people are stunned to hear the news and are agitated on the situation and are hopeful that you will reconsider the idea.
“I once again request you to reconsider and avoid visiting Sangh Parivar in the interest of secularism and the country,” Shareif said in his letter which was also signed by former MP H Hanumanthappa. He further wrote, “I personally think that a person of your stature, being secular and in politics for decades, having served in various capacity including the highest position of Rashtrapati, visiting Sangh Parivar at this point in time before Parliament elections is not proper.”
Nevertheless there were also voices within and outside Congress who were of the view that there was nothing wrong in the former president attending the function because after all, RRS was not some enemy organisation like Pakistan’s ISI. Some even saw it as “good beginning.”
While the Congress officially refrained from making a comment on the issue, a party leader asked if the RSS accepted what the former president said as a minister and Congress leader about the Sangh being the “worst” outfit which was “communal”, “anti-national” and “unpatriotic”.
The RSS, on its part, claimed even Mahatma Gandhi and Jaiprakash Narayan attended their functions and former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had invited its workers for the Republic Day parade in 1963 after being impressed with its work.
Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan’s response initially was “no comments,” and added that since the event is yet to happen he would not comment on it and the Congress will formulate its thoughts once the event takes place. “The event has not happened. I have come to know about it from media reports and am collecting further details. At present I have no comments to offer till the event takes place,” he told reporters at the AICC office.
Former MP and Delhi Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said as a Congress leader and minister, Mukherjee has spoken about the RSS and the BJP many times on various issues and dubbed it as “bad” and “worst” outfit, which is “communal” and “anti-national”.
“Pranab Mukherjee used to say that the RSS is the worst organisation in the country. Its leaders have no morals and RSS is corrupt and spreads lies. He (Mukherjee) has also said that the RSS is anti-national, unpatriotic and communal.
“If RSS has invited a person with such views, does this mean that the RSS admits that his (Pranab’s) views about the organisation were correct,” Dikshit asked. Dikshit is the son of former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
Earlier, at a press conference in Mumbai, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said, “The RSS is not Pakistan’s ISI. The RSS is an organisation of nationalists.”
“Mukherjee’s acceptance of the invitation is a good start. Political untouchability is not good,” he said.
Amid the raging debate over Mukherjee’s address at the RSS event, the RSS said the likes of Mahatama Gandhi and Jaiprakash Narayan have attended its functions in the past.
RSS joint spokesperson Narinder Thakur in a statement said that even former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had also invited its workers for the republic day parade in 1963, as he was impressed by their work.
Vadakkan said there is a lot of difference between their ideology and that of the RSS and never shall there be any compromise on that. Asked about the RSS statement that even Mahatma Gandhi has attended the Sangh headquarters, the Congress leader said “everyone knows about the specialisation of the RSS and the BJP on history. I would not comment on it”.
Mukherjee, who has been a Congress veteran, has been invited to be the chief guest at the valedictory function of Sangh Shiksha Varg — a training camp for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh volunteers — at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur, scheduled on June 7.
Concern is palpable in Congress over what former President Pranab Mukherjee’s speech on June 7 convocation of RSS pracharaks is likely to cover, but the mood in the party is that comments be reserved till the event in Nagpur. Congress spokesman Tom Vadakkan stuck to the “no comment” line but made it clear that there was “a lot of difference between the ideology of Congress and that of RSS”.
Another party spokesman, Abhishek Singhvi, said, “Mukherjee left politics on assumption of the presidency. His speaking at any convocation is no indication of his beliefs. Judge him by what he says and what are his established beliefs in 50 years of his political life.” Some who know Mukherjee said he was likely to speak to the RSS gathering on the “real sense” of nationalism — a discourse that could turn out to be a critique of the “exclusivist” view associated with the Hindutva camp.
With input from agencies