Nagpur: Former president Pranab Mukherjee speaks during the closing ceremony of Tritiya Varsha Sangh Shiksha Varg, an (RSS) event to mark the conclusion of a three-year training camp for Swayamsevaks, in Nagpur on Thursday, June 07, 2018. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat is also seen. (PTI Photo)(PTI6_7_2018_000208B) *** Local Caption *** Moneycontrol News Former President of India and Congress veteran, Pranab Mukherjee, addressed RSS swayamsevaks on their annual event Tritiya Varga Varsha in Nagpur yesterday. Mukherjee shared the stage with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, among others. He addressed over 700 swayamsevaks at the valedictory event on Indian nationalism. India derives its strength from tolerance. It believes in collective conscience and celebrates diversity. Intolerance will only dilute our national identity. Any attempt to define our nation through religion, dogma or intolerance will only fade our existence. Hatred leads to dilution of nationalism. The soul of India lies in pluralism and tolerance. Secularism and inclusion is a matter of faith for us. As Gandhiji explained, Indian nationalism was not exclusive, was not destructive. Pandit Nehru said, Indian nationalism only comes from a congregation of Hindus, Muslims and all other religions. Indian nationalism was and is above political, religion and regional inclination. This was the case before Independence and remains to be the truth even today. For us, democracy is not a gift but a sacred task. A dialogue is necessary not only to balance competing interests but also to reconcile them. Here are the key takeaways from Mukherjee’s speech at the event:He concluded his speech by saying that it fascinates him how 122 languages, 1600 dialects, seven major religions, three major ethnic groups live under one Constitution and form a singular identity known as Bharatiya.<doc-sep>Former president Pranab Mukherjee's speech at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters in Nagpur has been resoundingly applauded largely because we either do not read history or are forgetful of it Former president Pranab Mukherjee's speech at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters in Nagpur has been resoundingly applauded largely because we either do not read history or are forgetful of it. Or because we are incorrigible optimists who believe humans do change over time. No doubt, Mukherjee hit all the right notes, as was expected, when he spoke of India’s soul residing in pluralism and tolerance, and then went on to declare that "India's nationhood is not one language, one religion, one enemy". For sure, the RSS knew that Mukherjee would not speak the language of Hindutva and lavish praise on Hindu nationalism. The organisation's decision to invite him to Nagpur has, therefore, spawned hope that it perhaps wants to eschew its strategy of demonising and terrorising religious minorities. Yet we have neither a profound reason nor incontrovertible evidence to believe that the RSS is going to substitute the rainbow hues for the saffron colour it prefers. It may occasionally speak of pluralism and composite culture, but we will always wonder whether it is part of its famed doublespeak. History asks us to doubt the undertakings of the RSS. For instance, no less than the RSS' second sarsanghchalak, MS Golwalkar — arguably its most revered chief — assured Mahatma Gandhi that his organisation was not opposed to Muslims, yet harboured a secret plan to drive them out of India and silence anyone who dared to oppose its mission. In Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase, Pyarelal, Gandhi’s personal secretary, writes that Golwalkar visited the apostle of nonviolence on 12 September, 1947. "It was common knowledge that the RSS… had been behind the bulk of killings in the city as also in various other parts of India," writes Pyarelal, "This these friends (Golwalkar and his associates) denied." They claimed that "their organisation was for protecting Hinduism — not for killing Muslims. It was not hostile to anyone. It stood for peace". Gandhi said that if this was indeed the case, they should issue a public statement repudiating the allegations against them and publicly condemning the killings and harassment of Muslims. The guests said that Gandhi could do it on their behalf. To this suggestion, Pyarelal writes, "Gandhi answered that he would certainly do that, but if what they were saying was sincerely meant, it was better that the public should have it from their own lips." At this point, a person from "Gandhi’s party" praised the RSS for its exemplary work at the refugee camp in Wah (in Pakistan now). "'But don’t forget,' answered Gandhiji, 'even so had Hitler’s Nazis and the Fascists under Mussolini'," writes Pyarelal. He said Gandhi characterised the RSS as a "communal body with a totalitarian outlook". Yet Gandhi decided to attend the RSS rally of 16 September in Delhi because he, as Pyarelal writes, "felt he must give everybody a chance to make good his bona fides". At the rally, Golwalkar described Gandhi as a "great man that Hinduism has produced". In his own address, Gandhi said that he was indeed proud of being a Hindu, but his Hinduism was neither intolerant nor exclusivist. Pyarelal reports Gandhi telling the audience comprising RSS activists: "If Hindus believed that in India there was no place for non-Hindus on equal and honourable terms and Muslims, if they wanted to live in India, must be content with an inferior status, or if the Muslims thought that in Pakistan Hindus could live only as a subject race on the sufferance of Muslims, it would mean an eclipse of Hinduism and an eclipse of Islam". Gandhi also announced what Golwalkar had asked him to do in their 12 September meeting. Pyarelal reports Gandhi saying that "he (Gandhi) was glad… to have their (RSS leaders) assurance that their policy was not of antagonism towards Islam"; and that "the Sangh did not believe in aggression… It taught the art of self-defence. It never taught retaliation". From this perspective, it is hard to figure out how Mukherjee’s speech improves upon Gandhi’s. In different words, both spoke of tolerance and inclusion. But Gandhi had gone a step further than Mukherjee — the former challenged the RSS to either accept it was violent or declare it was for peace. It was Gandhi’s hope that the RSS would adhere to the claims he had publicly made on its behalf. By contrast, Mukherjee did not refer to the incidents of violence in which the RSS and its affiliates have been implicated. He did not refer to the series of lynching over the issue of cows; he did not point to the RSS' pet project of ghar wapsi and love jihad, and the strain put on India’s social fabric. He did not remind his listeners about the assault on Muslims while they were offering their Friday prayers in Gurugram. Mukherjee would have ventured beyond philosophical clichés had he condemned the increasing tendency of BJP leaders to communally polarise the electorate before every election. His speech would have been worthy of raising a toast if he had asked the RSS to ponder whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi was right in accusing his predecessor, Manmohan Singh, of hatching a conspiracy with Pakistan to impose a Muslim chief minister on Gujarat. Certainly then, Mukherjee’s speech pales in comparison to Gandhi's at the 16 September, 1947 rally of the RSS in Delhi. Nor should the decision of the RSS to invite Mukherjee to Nagpur overly impress us. Three months after Gandhi spoke at the RSS rally of 16 September, Delhi’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) filed a secret report of Golwalkar telling RSS volunteers of his plan to drive out Muslims from India, wage an insurgency against the government, and silence all those, including Gandhi, who dared to oppose the RSS. This plan was first published by the historian Ramachandra Guha in Outlook and, subsequently, journalist Bharat Bhushan too wrote about it for Catch News. This author has seen the CID papers on which their stories were based.<doc-sep>Pranab at RSS headquarters: Unease in Congress gives way to relief NEW DELHI: Political secretary to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party veteran Ahmed Patel said on Thursday that he didn't expect Pranab Mukherjee to visit, underlining the anxiety in party circles hours before the Nagpur event.On a tweet from Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha censuring her father's decision to share the RSS dais , Patel commented, "I did not expect this from Pranab da!" The comment from the reticent leader, a confidant of Sonia Gandhi, encapsulated the mood in the Congress circles.While party leaders have been uneasy since the news of Mukherjee's nod to be the chief guest at RSS convocation function broke, they turned incredulous on Thursday evening when the former President called RSS founder KB Hedgewar a "great son of Mother India". It led to a flurry of comments, tweets and heightened chatter about breaching the red line.No sooner did Mukherjee consecrate Hedgewar in glowing terms that deputy leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma tweeted, "The images of Pranab Da, veteran leader and ideologue, at RSS headquarters have anguished millions of Congress workers and all those who believe in pluralism, diversity and the foundational values of the Indian Republic. Dialogue can only be with those who are willing to listen, absorb and change. There is nothing to suggest that RSS has moved away from its core agenda as it seeks legitimacy. "Nobody believed that Mukherjee would turn his back on his five decades of public life and agree with the "ideological rival" whom he had once accused in a Congress resolution of involvement in terror activities.But the concern in Congress was very basic. There were doubts if Mukherjee, as a guest, could deliver a strong disagreement to the host like he did as a party principal. However, the chief worry was that his very presence at the RSS headquarters would bestow legitimacy on an outfit Congress has all through treated as untouchable.Leaders continued to argue that the speech apart, Mukherjee's very presence at the RSS' sanctum sanctorum had undercut Congress' distinct ideological position in the political firmament. To that extent, the event cannot be undone.However, for all the shooting anxiety levels, Mukherjee's speech left Congressmen relieved. While the party understandably dubbed it a lesson in "Indianness" to the RSS, insiders said top leaders had conveyed their view that "it went off well". In fact, some office-bearers who made castigating comments about Mukherjee were seen to have "jumped the gun".All through, an insider said, Congress president Rahul Gandhi stayed aloof and wanted all to watch the speech before speaking out.<doc-sep>As the country wonders what former president Pranab Mukherjee might say at RSS headquarters in Nagpur on Thursday, his last speech as president in 2017 reflects the thoughts and concerns that had engaged him throughout his over five-decade-long political career. Auto refresh feeds Mukherjee accepting the invite from the RSS has generated a lot of interest as well as controversy, with Congress leaders urging him not to attend the event in the "interest of secularism". - PTI Mukherjee, who had been in the Congress for most of his political career and had been slamming the RSS, will attend the valedictory function of the 'Sangh Shiksha Varg' in Nagpur, the headquarters of the Sangh fountainhead. Former president Pranab Mukherjee arrived in Nagpur on Wednesday to attend an RSS event on Thursday which has generated a lot of interest and controversy over the last few days. Former president and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee will be addressing the valedictory function of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) Sangh Shiksha Varg — a training camp for the volunteers — at the headquarters in Nagpur on Thursday. On Wednesday, the former president's daughter, Sharmistha Mukherjee, disapproved of his decision and cautioned her father saying he was giving the BJP and the Sangh a handle to plant false stories as his "speech will be forgotten" but "visuals will remain". Speaking in support of Mukherjee, historian Ramachandra Guha said the former president was free to accept or reject any invitation he received. However, he lent a word of caution to Mukherjee and said that in the age of fake news, he should release the full text of his speech in the public domain as soon as the speech is delivered. "I'm sure that Pranab Mukherjee won't say anything in Nagpur which isn't in favour of the nation. In fact, whatever he says will be in favour of country. I've no issues with him attending that event. He's free to go wherever he wants to," ANI quoted former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh as saying. He said that although Pranab is respected as a knowledgeable person, he has never been a popular leader in Bengal. Like many congressmen, Chowdhury also appeared critical of Pranab's decision to participate in the event as he said, "The BJP is doing politics in Bengal. And with this, they’ll have a spicy material that they’ll use against the Congress. Once a robust Congress leader, he is visiting the RSS headquarters. The BJP is a communal party and they’ll definitely make Pranab Mukherjee into a political scandal." CNN-News18 interviewed West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Thursday who opined that after Sharmishtha Mukherejee, Pranab's son Abhijit may also have to speak up against the former president's decision to attend the RSS event. After daughter, Pranab’s son too may have to speak up on RSS event The resistance has surprised many, but if we were to delve into the ideological basis of this opposition it would be unsurprising. Bharat’s intellectual spectrum’s most vocal voices are those of, an ideology that is entirely alien to India and has been rejected the world over, for its high level of intolerance and violent means to achieve conformity, that is ‘Communism’. Their idea of “thought conformity” necessitates this approach that not only rejects healthy exchange among diverse stakeholders but protests it." " Exchange of views and ideas is intrinsic to the Bharatiya concept of dialogue, this invitation and its acceptance is but a continuation of that democratic tradition, enshrined in our cultural ethos. So why then the dissonance and negative commentary? Why the opposition to this exchange? The Sangh was also unsparing in its criticism of the Left as it defended its invite to the former president at its event. It is in view of such developments that one must consider Mukherjee's acceptance of the RSS invitation – it could be one of several options the former president has to re-enter public life, including engaging with third front protagonists like Naveen Patnaik and restless Congressmen unsure of Rahul's prowess. However, a closer look at Mukherjee's political and personal ambitions is also merited. After retirement, Mukherjee has seen a lot of visitors at his 10, Rajaji Marg residence. And it is generally believed that a section of the political class, which is unsure of Rahul's ability to either lead a rainbow coalition or make Congress a stronger organisation, is working behind-the-scenes so Mukherjee takes a more "pro-active role in national life". Former President Pranab Mukherjee consenting to be the chief guest at the RSS event should be seen as the RSS' attempt to broaden its base and appropriate iconic figures. Contrary to popular perception, the chequered history of RSS-Congress relations has seen the two cosy up, bringing dividends to both sides. However, it was in 2007, when former Air Chief Marshal AY Tipnis was invited to the Nagpur camp by then Sarsanghchalak K S Sudarshan. Without targeting the RSS directly, "Tipnis raised eyebrows as he delivered a veiled critique dealing with secularism, tolerance and faith in the Constitution which led to a point-by-point rebuttal by Sudarshan" RSS also claims that revolutionary Congress politician Jayaprakash Narayan also had once presided over the RSS functionaries as a guest. Some others former chief guests at RSS headquarters include the likes of former CBI chief Joginder Singh, Republican Party of India (Gavai) president R S Gavai, and former Nepal Army chief Rookmangud Katawal. One of the earliest such examples is from 1993 when former Central Provinces home minister Sir Moropant Joshi was invited during KB Hedgewar’s time. Apart from that, the RSS often refers to a voluntary visit to the Wardha RSS camp by Mahatma Gandhi on 25 December 1934. It is no surprise then that Gandhian health activist Abhay Bang has also been one of the former chief guests at the RSS event. The invite to Pranab Mukherjee isn't a one-off. The RSS has been known to invite people not ascribing to its ideology.<doc-sep>
Pranab Mukherjee's speech at RSS event spoke of inclusion, diversity and nationalism. Here is the full text of President Pranab Mukherjee's Address: Former President Pranab Mukherjee addressed the closing ceremony of the 'Tritiya Varsha Sangh Shiksha Varg', an Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) event today to mark the conclusion of a three-year training camp for swayamsevaks in Nagpur. Watch his full speech here Nation, Nationalism and PatriotismGreetings,Sarsanghchalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat Ji, Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen1. Today, I'm here to share with you my understanding of the concepts of Nation, Nationalism and Patriotism in the context of India, that is Bharat. These three concepts are so closely intertwined that it is difficult to discuss any one of them in isolation.2. Let us make a beginning by understanding the dictionary meaning of these three words. Nation is defined as 'a large group of people sharing the same culture, language or history and inhabiting a particular state or area'. Nationalism is defined as 'identification with one's own nation and support for its interests especially to the exclusion of interests of other nations'. Patriotism is defined as 'devotion to and vigorous support for one's country'.3. Let us look at our roots,India was an open society, globally connected along the Silk and Spice Routes. These busy highways of commerce and conquest witnessed a free exchange of culture, faith and invention as merchants, scholars and sages traversed mountain and desert and sailed the oceans. Buddhism reached Central Asia, China and Southeast Asia together with Hindu influences . Ancient travelers like Megasthenes in the 4th century B.C., Fa Hien in the 5th century A.D. and Hiuen Tsang in the 7th century AD; when they came to India, wrote about the efficient administrative systems with planned settlements and good infrastructure. Takshashila, Nalanda, Vikramashila, Valabhi, Somapura and Odantapuri comprised the ancient university system that dominated the world for 1,800 years beginning the sixth century BCE. They were magnets for the finest minds and scholars in the world. In the liberal environment of these institutions creativity found full form and art, literature, and scholarship flourished. Chanakya's Arthashastra, an authoritative text on state-craft was also written during this period.4. India was a state long before the concept of the European Nation State gained ground after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. This model- of a defined territory, a single language, shared religion and a common enemy- is the model which led to the formation of various nation states in Europe. On the other hand Indian Nationalism emanated from "Universalism" the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम) and Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah, Sarve Santu Niramayah. We see the whole world as one family and pray for the happiness and good health of all. Our national identity has emerged through a long drawn process of confluence, assimilation, and co-existence. The multiplicity in culture, faith and language is what makes India special. We derive our strength from tolerance. We accept and respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity. These have been a part of our collective consciousness for centuries. Any attempt at defining our nationhood in terms of dogmas and identities of religion, region, hatred and intolerance will only lead to dilution of our national identity. Any differences that may appear are only on the surface but we remain a distinct cultural unit with a common history, a common literature and a common civilization . In the words of the eminent historian Vincent Smith, "India beyond all doubt possesses a deep underlying fundamental unity, far more profound than that produced either by geographical isolation or by political superiority. That unity transcends the innumerable diversities of blood, colour, language, dress, manners, and sect" .5. If we take a quick look at history the emergence of the Indian State can be traced back to the sixteen Mahajanapadas mostly spread across Northern India in the 6th century BC. In the 4th century BC, Chandragupta Maurya defeated the Greeks to build a powerful empire comprising of North-Western and Northern India. Emperor Ashoka was the most illustrious ruler of this dynasty. After the collapse of the Mauryan Dynasty, the empire broke into small kingdoms around 185 BC. Gupta Dynasty again created a vast empire which collapsed around 550 AD. Many dynasties ruled till 12th century, when Muslim invaders captured Delhi and successive dynasties ruled for the next 300 years. Babur defeated the last Lodhi King in 1526 at the First Battle of Panipat and firmly established Mughal rule which continued for 300 years.