Ratan Tata shares stage with RSS chief
Two months after former President of India Pranab Mukherjee graced the stage of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in Nagpur and spoke of the soul of India that “resides in pluralism and tolerance”, India’s most respected industrialist too shared the dais with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at an event in Mumbai. But Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata group, did not address the audience.
Mr Bhagwat, however, spoke at length on a number of issues in his address to RSS- affiliated NGO Nana Palkar Smruti Samiti at its golden jubilee celebrations.
Explaining the business tycoon’s silence, Mr Bhagwat said, Mr Tata is humble in nature and “those who work a lot speak less”.
Praising Mr Tata and Tata industry, Mr Bhagwat said, “His work is inspirational. He works for the people, for the society. He sees that the wealth of nation remains here and people get prosperous.”
Mr Tata’s presence at an RSS event came on the day Congress president Rahul Gandhi said, “RSS is trying to change
the nature of India. Other parties haven’t tried to capture India’s institutions. RSS’ idea is similar to the idea of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab world.”
In his speech, Mr Bhagwat asked, “What is raj dharma?” and then proceeded to provide the answer. “It’s the conviction of working for the people by those who’ve been elected to power. It is not a business,” he said. The phrase “raj dharma” was used by former PM A. B. Vajpayee in a press conference held after the Gujarat riots, while ostensibly reminding the then chief minister of Gujarat and current PM, Narendra Modi, of how he needed to treat his people equally.
Further expanding on what he thought the definition of raj dharma was, Mr Bhagwat said, “When we get to the high office we should realise that what we’re doing is not a business. It is a service we’re doing. A service that would take the society ahead. We shouldn’t do this service expecting anything, we may get something in return but that’s a different thing.”
Mr Bhagwat was speaking at a function to commemorate work done by RSS pracharak Nana Palkar.