Cong U- turn: Praises Pranab for RSS ‘ snub’
Bhagwat says row meaningless, Pranab attending event won’t change ex- Prez ideology
After initially expressing disapproval and concern, the Congress did a complete volte- face by praising the address of former President Pranab Mukherjee at an RSS event in Nagpur on Thursday.
Following Mr Mukherjee’s speech, Congress communications chief Randeep Singh Surjewala praised the former President saying that he has “shown the mirror of truth to the RSS at its headquarters in Nagpur by reminding them of India’s pluralism, tolerance, secularism and inclusiveness as an article of faith and soul of the country”. Mr Surjewala said, “Let the RSS and the BJP publicly commit today to change their character, orientation, thought process and path and accept the sagacious advise of their guest, Pranab Mukherjee.”
Dismissing the controversy created over former President of India Pranab Mukherjee’s acceptance of the RSS invite to be the chief guest at its headquarters at Nagpur, Sangh supremo Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday said the controversy was meaningless as both the Sangh and Dr Mukherjee will remain the same. Addressing the gathering, including Dr Mukherjee, RSS officebearers and the volunteers completing the third year of training progremme, Mr Bhagwat said that his organisation works for the better for the nation and India’s tradition is unity in diversity. “Dr Pranab Mukherjee ko humne sehej roop se amantran diya aur unhone humara sneh pehchan kar unhone sahmiti di. Unko kaise bulaya aur woh kaise ja rahe hain yeh charcha nirarthak hai ( we invited him and he accepted our invitation. How he was invited and where he is going is all meaningless),” said Mr Bhagwat, adding that it was RSS’s tradition to invite people not ascribing to its ideology and said the RSS was grateful to learn something from him.
“The Sangh is the Sangh. Pranab Mukherjee will be Pranab Mukherjee. Attending RSS event won’t change his ideology,” said Mr Bhagwat adding that the former president was a man of intellect and experience.
At a time when the ruling BJP is often being accused of arrogance and intolerance, the RSS chief, Mr Mohan Bhagwat, without giving names said that power without humility could turn into a demonic force. The RSS chief said that only the “dusht”, or evil people, use power to harass other people
Asserting that the RSS does not discriminate against anyone, Mr Bhagwat said that every citizen born in India is an Indian and the RSS wants to unify the entire society.
“We embrace all, we are not just for one section. RSS believes in unity in diversity. Every citizen born in India is an Indian. It is his right to worship our motherland. There have been many debates about Pranab Mukherjee attending the event, but we do not consider anyone different from ourselves. We Indians are one and united,” said the RSS supremo.
The RSS supremo said there is a lot of diversity in the country and the RSS accepts diversity which is part of country’s tradition. He said everyone has a right to have a political opinion, but there is a limit to opposing it.
“Ek he gantavya ke liye alag alag raaste chalne wale log hote hain... hum sab ek hai aisa darshan samay samay par hota rehna chahiye ( we all are walking towards one goal but on different routes... but every now and then we should show that we all are one),” he added.
Though we feel that he should not have gone to the RSS meet, but what Pranab Da said in his speech was expected from him. It was in true sense of nationalism... — D. Raja, CPI leader Let the RSS and the BJP publicly commit today to change its character, orientation, thought process and path and accept the sagacious advice of their guest Pranab Mukherjee. It is time for ( RSS chief) Mohan Bhagwat and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to answer. We await a reply — Randeep Surjewala, Cong leader