Soul of India is pluralism, tolerance: Pranab Mukherjee at RSS event

Former President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday told the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) cadre that frequent manifestations of rage were weakening India’s social fabric and appealed to them to free public discourse of all forms of violence, verbal as well as physical.

Mukherjee had landed in Nagpur, where RSS headquarters are located, on Wednesday. On Thursday evening, Mukherjee visited the house of RSS founder K B Hedgewar. 

He wrote in the visitor’s book that he was there to pay homage to a “great son of India”.

His visit was criticised by senior Congress leaders like Anand Sharma and Ahmed Patel, as also his daughter and Congress leader, Sharmistha Mukherjee.

However, after his speech, a mellowed Congress said Mukherjee showed the “mirror of truth” to the RSS, and reminded the Narendra Modi government of following the “raj dharma”.

It welcomed Mukherjee’s efforts at initiating a dialogue with the RSS, but asked whether the RSS was “ready to listen” to the former president’s sage advice.

Not only Mukherjee’s, but also RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s speech was notable.

Bhagwat addressed the RSS cadre before Mukherjee did. Among other things, Bhagwat said power without humility could become demonic, and only the evil misuse power to harass others.

In his speech, Mukherjee quoted from Kautilya, Rabindranath Tagore, Surendranath Banerjee, Mahatma Gandhi and even Jawaharlal Nehru to talk about India’s civilisational ethos of inclusive nationalism.

He said Indians “must move from anger, violence and conflict to peace, harmony and happiness”. 

“Please wish for peace, harmony and happiness. Our motherland is asking for that, our motherland deserves that,” he said. 

The former president said the soul of India is pluralism, tolerance and assimilation of ideas. He said constitutional patriotism and shared diversity were the cornerstone of India’s civilisational ethos. Mukherjee said composite culture made India into a nation, and its nationhood was not about a language or a religion.

Possibly explaining the rationale behind his visit to RSS headquarters, Mukherjee said: “In a democracy, dialogue is necessary. Divergent stands in public discourse have to be recognised. We may argue. We may agree. We may not agree. But we cannot deny multiplicity of opinion.”