Pranab finds his niche – as speaker at RSS ‘shakha’

At a time the BJP has a single minded obsession about liberating the country from the Congress, former President Pranab Mukherjee, a veteran Congress leader, will address an event of the RSS on June 7 in Nagpur. Mohan Bhagwat, the sarsanghchalak of the RSS, will also speak to the cadres on the occasion.

By extending an invite to Pranab, the RSS is putting out a loaded political message that the former president, unlike others Congressmen, does not feel that the RSS is a ‘political untouchable.’

The Congress party, since independence, has been ideologically at loggerheads with the RSS. In fact, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been constantly attacking the RSS. He is also facing a defamation suit for having allegedly made disparaging comments about the RSS.

For the saffron outfit, the acceptance of the invite is nothing short of a political coup, more so at a time when the RSS is getting considerable flak in some quarters for its ‘Hindutva’ narrative and for the leverage it enjoys vis-à-vis the BJP government.

‘‘Mukherjee's acceptance also sends a message to the country that on vital issues there should be dialogue and adversaries are not enemies. Questions raised about RSS’ Hindutva agenda is being answered by his acceptance of the invitation," said Rakesh Sinha. As president, too, Mukherjee enjoyed a warm relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is believed to have even invited Mohan Bhagwat to the Rashtrapati Bhavan despite perceived differences in ideology.

Sinha further said Mukherjee was not the first dignitary attend an RSS event as other prominent leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan (Janata Party leader), N.G. Gore (popular Marathi socialist) and Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (former president and vicepresident) had graced the occasion earlier. The former president will address the Third Year Sangha Shiksha Varga, which is held in the RSS headquarters annually in Nagpur.

Volunteers who attend the first and second-year training camps are qualified for the final year camp, and can later become full-time RSS pracharaks.