While former President Pranab Mukherjee passed away, his visit to RSS in Nagpur still continues to give Congress sleepless nights
Bengaluru: While former President Pranab Mukherjee passed away, his visit to RSS in Nagpur still continues to give Congress sleepless nights!
Pranab Mukherjee had visited the RSS after his term got over.
But the Congress is unable to stomach his visit even to this day!
In a memorial meet held by the members of Karnataka Congress, senior leader Mallikarjuna Kharge rued it.
He said, “Pranab Mukherjee was such a learned man, I didn't understand why he visited RSS in his last days. This is my personal opinion. He was a staunch believer in Nehruvian philosophy and a follower of Indira Gandhi. He had differences with Rajeev Gandhi and stayed out of the party for 4 years. After that, he rejoined the party and that is history. But what continues to baffle me, and will forever remain so is why the former President visited the RSS headquarters to deliver a speech. I never got the opportunity for a one-on-one meeting due to his illness.”
It was not just Kharge. Even Siddaramaiah, a former CM seconded Kharge’s views.
He said, “Even I have the same question in my mind as Kharge said. He stayed for so long with the Congress. RSS, in fact, killed Mahatma Gandhi. After stepping down as the President, he visited the RSS shivir to deliver a speech. Why? That is still an unanswered question. RSS is a communal organisation. After a 50-year association with the Congress, his visit there to deliver a speech has indeed hurt us. But he never gave any proper clarification regarding his visit.”
It has to be noted that the RSS specifically cherry-picked him for the event because it knew very well that Pranab da had a gargantuan following of his own and a leader of his calibre, attending the event, would send a strong message to the Gandhi-Nehru family. Apart from this, the RSS also wanted to ensure that it is not a political untouchable because a member and leader not belonging to the Gandhi-Nehru family, had a heart to hear them and express his views.
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