Thursday Brief

There has been huge ripples in the political circles, as  ex President Pranab Mukherjee has accepted the invitation from RSS to  address an RSS conclave on June 7 at their headquarters at Nagpur. Some of the Congress leaders have expressed their shock and anguish at Pranab Mukherjee , a Congress leaders of many decades, legalising the party’s adversary  by addressing its workers. Ramesh Chennithala, who happens to Congress’s leader of opposition in Kerala assembly has  written a letter to ex President requesting him to cancel his visit , which has resulted in a shock to secular minded people. Other senior Congress leader CK Jaffer Sharief has also written to ex President expressing  his hurt sentiments and anguish. Ex finance Minister P Chidambaram of Congress made a statement, now that he has accepted the invitation, nothing can be done except that he requested ex President that when he addresses the conclave  he should tell the gathering, what is wrong with their ideology.

Commenting  on Chidambaram’s statement, Vice President Venkiah Naidu said, ” Political Parties are rivals but not enemies. They may have different ideologies and ideas, but all are trying to best for the country, and sitting .next to each other does not convert you.

And it is not the first time Congress leader is visiting RSS headquarters in Nagpur, in the early 1930s Mahatma Gandhi, the tallest Congress leader up til now also visited , met RSS Chief there and discussed so many things about the nation that time. Why to go that far, after Indo China war in 1962, PM Nehru invited RSS to send their volunteers to take part in Republic Day parade, this was in response to selfless services rendered by RSS members during the relief operations during and after the war. All the time Congress has been spreading false news about RSS involvement in Gandhi’s killing, where as the fact is that even  the court of law had repeatedly said that RSS was not directly involved, people say that Nathuram Godse was member of RSS, but the fact he left RSS before India’s freedom.The irony is that the present Congress president even in his recent election speeches have been accusing RSS for Gandhi’s killing. He has been slapped a case,  and is fighting the case defending his charge that RSS impulse lay behind Gandhi’s killing.

It is a recorded fact that prior to 1934 even Congressmen were members of the RSS, it was only in 1934 that All India Congress Committee (AICC) passed a resolution prohibiting Congress members from also being members of  the RSS, Hindu Mahasabha or Muslim League. Ex President is aware of all these facts, as he was the editor of recent centenary volume of Congress history.

There are so many differences between Congress and BJP, and they are not going to thaw with Pranabda speaking at RSS conclave. The point is that the question is not about the substance and existence of political differences, but the manner in which they should be expressed and resolved. Presently both BJP and Congress are loggerheads at each other, presently the situation is leading to bitter polarisation, where  the BJP as ruing party and Congress as opposition are both attacking bitterly each other.

Pranabda, during his 3 years of tenure as President, in Modi regime, was always happy with how Modi tackled the problems faced by the nation and during non official talks he was always praising Modi and his style of functioning, which was not to the liking of Congressmen, but Pranabda after  becoming President , became apolitical person  as he was the constitutional head of the nation, and he did not belong to any party. Congress, as a party tried its level best to induce him back to party affairs after he tretired , but he was quite clear that he being Ex President can not come back to active politics. According to political analysts Pranabda would have become better PM than Manmohan Singh, but Sonia Gandhi wanted yes man, and Pranabda as per his nature and character would not have done that job and this she also knew.

I appreciate the guts of RSS top management for inviting Pranabda for the conclave, suppose he had declined the invitation then they would have became laughing stock. Pranabda showed his greatness and astute political wisdom in accepting the invitation extended to him, as he knows the value of engaging with the other side. Finally it is good for democracy to have different points of view aired in common forums, in a hostile less manner.

Waiting for your views/comments/feed backs.