{"id":44631,"date":"2018-06-08T18:08:01","date_gmt":"2018-06-08T12:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/?p=44631"},"modified":"2018-06-08T18:10:52","modified_gmt":"2018-06-08T12:40:52","slug":"pranab-mukherjee-at-rss-hq-proves-detractors-wrong-teaches-idea-of-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/politics\/pranab-mukherjee-at-rss-hq-proves-detractors-wrong-teaches-idea-of-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Pranab Mukherjee at RSS HQ proves detractors wrong, teaches idea of India"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]There was no mention of “Hindu rashtra” even by RSS chief who keeps bringing it up on every other occasion<\/em><\/p>\n Former president Pranab Mukherjee’s speech at RSS headquarter in Nagpur last evening, (Thursday, June 7) put paid to all apprehensions about his decision to attend the function and what he would end up doing there.<\/p>\n For days after his plans to go there became known, many believers in democracy and secularism had been overly critical of Mukherjee. What Mukherjee said there should have laid their fears to rest, but, for many, it didn’t, even though the man with a lifetime spent in Congress ripped apart the basic core of RSS tenets while speaking from its platform, in its headquarters, in front of all the trainees and in presence of the sarsanghchalak – RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat – himself.<\/p>\n While RSS functionaries and sympathisers went to town praising Mukherjee, his speech and his visit as being in tune with RSS core beliefs and its “endorsement”, their detractors walked into the trap, focusing on the trivial – like the symbolism of visit, the comment in visitor book about RSS founder KB Hedgewar, standing when the Sangh anthem was played – rather than the substance of what he said.<\/p>\n That is, in fact, what the RSS would like them to focus on, discuss and debate, accusing them of ‘intolerance’ while portraying RSS as being so broadminded as to invite a former, hardcore Congress man to their function as an ‘honoured chief guest’. They would have done well to repeat what Mukherjee said and contrast it with RSS belief and practice, as seen in the speech and actions of workers of not only the parent body but also its offshoots like Vsihwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and others.<\/p>\n RSS chief Bhagwat, speaking before Mukherjee, had kept his speech suitably toned down, letting out the troublesome element of RSS tenets only while referring to its formation in 1925 “out of realisation for the need to organise Hindu society”. Otherwise, he spoke of need for a common goal and destiny by forging a unity out of the differences in culture, language etc.<\/p>\n Another notable aspect, overlooked by many, was that the RSS chief refrained from any talk about India being a ‘Hindu rashtra’, which he has been talking about at fairly regular intervals. That he didn’t say it in one of the largest and most important RSS gatherings can be out down to the Pranab effect.<\/p>\n His followers picked up other portions and likened them to portions of Mukherjee’s speech talking about India’s diversity.<\/p>\n Those were taken quite out of context, for what Mukherjee had said was quite different, if one goes through his speech, as reproduced\u00a0 by NDTV. Bhagwat also did not refer to Hedgewar’s ‘teachings’ contained in the booklets (pathey) provided to RSS swayamsevaks (workers) for their ready reference. Hedgewar talks about Indian being a nation of Hindus and for Hindus, and refers to Muslims as ‘yavana snakes’, using the term originally used for people of Greece (Yunan).<\/p>\n Mukherjee made several points that go against what RSS stands for and preaches. He may have made a courteous comment on the visitor’s book about RSS founder KB Hedgewar, but what he said was quite different. Mukherjee focused on the themes the RSS talks about, but gave an entirely different perspective to them: nation, nationalism and patriotism.<\/p>\n He did not once RSS in his speech while talking about these themes, while he quoted several Congress leaders extensively. He talked about Jawaharlal Nehru, a leader RSS and the crop of organisations it heads have spared no effort to vilify. At the same time he never once mentioned any of the Sangh leaders or their ideologues while talking about personalities who contributed to the making of India: No Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, MS Golwalkar, BS Moonje, or Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.<\/p>\n He spoke of tolerance, pluralism and steadfast loyalty to the Indian Constitution, reading out the Preamble that enshrines the core of a secular democratic polity.<\/p>\n Also, while some may crib about his standing up when the RSS flag was hoisted and its anthem played (as common decency demanded – and it does not detract from his beliefs and practice; what else should he have done?) he also stood out: wearing an Indian dress of dhoti and achkan, rather than shirt and trousers, and standing with hands by his sides rather than offering the RSS salute of one arm raised across the chest. He was being nice, not submissive or obsequious.<\/p>\n “India\u2019s national identity emerged from a long-drawn process of confluence and co-existence. The concept of modern India was articulated from various Indian leaders and it was not bound by race or religion,” he said.<\/p>\n He told the RSS workers, who have been hearing their chief talk about Hindu rashtra and Hindu rashtravad, \u00a0that India was born through the process of assimilation of waves of people who came and settled here. He also talked about pluralism and tolerance being the soul of India, rejected the idea of defining India on the basis of religion, and talked about the welfare of the people being the welfare of the ruler.<\/p>\n The former president did not praise the Sangh or its activities once. Instead, rejecting the idea of religion or caste-based discrimination, Mukherjee said: “At the heart of this violence is darkness, fear and mistrust. We must free our public discourse from all forms of violence, physical as well as verbal… It is our composite culture that makes us into a nation. India\u2019s nationhood is not one language, one religion, one entity.”<\/p>\n