An intriguing visit

Former President Pranab Mukherjee’s (pictured) decision to visit the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur and address the ‘cub patriots’ was of a piece with former Congress leaders. In fact, it looked like Pranabdada was doing a Narashima Rao. Recall how the former Congress Prime Minister locked himself inside the puja room till the demolition of the Babri Masjid. More such instances spring to mind. S M Krishna who served as Congress Chief Minister of Karnataka jumped ship to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Even the great judge V R Krishna Iyer who stood like a bulwark against communalism all through his life praised Narendra Modi as “god’s gift to India” in his twilight years. Later, the encomium was repeated by Venkaiah Naidu.

The very fact that Mukherjee was amenable to be persuaded by the RSS to address its ‘new recruits’ on the occasion of Tritiya Varsh Varg (third year course) in his capacity as an eminent person showed his soft corner for the RSS and his ambivalence about Hindutva ideology. The proposed visit is all the more intriguing, for it goes to shed his image as the erstwhile Congress’ articulate voice and fire-fighter, conflicts with the Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s opposition to what the RSS represents – Hindu revivalism -- and wittingly or unwittingly confers a certain legitimacy to the Sangh Parivar’s conception of India. The scholarly Mukherjee is more than sophisticated to not know that the emergence of a Hindu Rashtra will mark the end of Nehruvian secularism, of which, he was an ardent advocate till the other day. However, it is magnanimous of the former President that he agreed to give lessons on patriotism to the RSS cadres and enthuse them despite the denial of another wished-for term as President. Incidentally, the incumbent President, a Dalit, has a Parivar background. Why Mukherjee was preferred to Ramnath Kovind is anybody’s guess.

G David Milton Maruthancode