Advani hails Pranab, Cong also sings paeans
NEW DELHI: The dust refuses to settle on former President's decision to attend the RSS event in Nagpur on Thursday.
BJP patriarch LK Advani on Friday described former president Pranab Mukherjee's visit to the RSS headquarters and his "illuminating exposition of the noble idea and ideals of Indian nationalism" as a "significant event in our country's contemporary history".
Advani lauded Mukherjee, who has had decades of association with the Congress, for accepting the invitation of the Hindutva organisation and its chief Mohan Bhagwat for inviting him, saying there was significant concord and resonance in the views expressed by both of them.
As a lifelong 'swayamsevak' of the RSS, the BJP veteran said he believed that Mukherjee and Bhagwat have genuinely set an excellent example of dialogue transcending ideological affiliations and differences.
BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav tweeted his appreciation of former president Pranab Mukherjee's speech at an RSS event calling it 'great'.
The mood in the Congress camp, however, kept changing. It started with stunned silence over the former president's decision to attend the event, changed into 'anguish' expressed by a few leaders, including Mukherjee's daughter, and finally came the sigh of relief after the former president had delivered a sharp speech.
Several Congress leaders on Friday heaped praises on Pranab Mukherjee, saying the former president had emerged "taller" after telling the RSS about India's pluralism, a day after many from the party had criticised him for visiting the Sangh headquarters.
The former President on Thursday in Nagpur warned that any attempt to define India through "religion, hatred, dogmas and intolerance would dilute our existence" and said public discourses must be freed of all forms of violence.
Former Finance minister P Chidambaram said Mukherjee had told the RSS what was correct about the Congress's ideology. Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said he hoped that the RSS would absorb the former president's message.
The RSS said that former president Pranab Mukherjee 'reminded the glorious history of the nation' while highlighting inclusiveness, pluralism and unity in diversity as the foundation of India.
Reacting to a morphed photograph showing the former President in a prayer position identified with the organisation, the RSS on Friday blamed "divisive political forces" for first trying to make former President Pranab Mukherjee "refrain" from attending its event.
Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee, a Congress leader who had opposed his visit to the RSS event, had highlighted the photograph and said, "See, this is exactly what I was fearing & warned my father about. Not even few hours have passed, but BJP/RSS dirty tricks dept is at work in full swing!".
