Chidambaram lauds Pranab's speech at RSS event

Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P. Chidambaram on Friday lauded former President Pranab Mukherjee for highlighting Congress' ideology during his speech at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) event held on Thursday.

"Happy that Mr Pranab Mukherjee told the RSS what is right about Congress' ideology. It was his way of saying what is wrong about RSS' ideology," Chidambaram tweeted.

Mukherjee's acceptance of the RSS' invitation to attend the Third Year Sangha Shiksha Varga (SSV) event led to backlash from the Congress and others.

Earlier, Chidambaram had requested the former President to tell the RSS what is wrong with their ideology.

"Now that he (Pranab Mukherjee) has accepted invitation there is no point debating why he accepted it. More important thing to say is, sir you have accepted invitation, please go there and tell them what is wrong with their ideology," Chidambaram said earlier at an event in Delhi.

Meanwhile, Mukherjee while speaking at the RSS event in Nagpur said "We accept and respect our pluralism and celebrate our diversity. Our national identity has emerged after a long drawn process of confluence and assimilation, the multiple cultures and faiths make us special and tolerant.

"Nation is defined as a large group of people sharing the same language, heritage. Nationalism is defined as identification oneself with one's own nation. Patriotism is defined as devotion to one's own country. We derive our strength from tolerance. We respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity. Intolerance will only dilute our national identity. Any attempt to define our nation through religion, dogma or intolerance will only fade our existence," he added.

Besides Chidambaram, other Congress leaders including Anand Sharma and Randeep Surjewala also lauded Mukherjee's speech at the event.