Lot is being said, speculated and wished about the visit of Pranab Mukherjee, ex-Rashtrapati and ex-true Congressman, to Nagpur RSS and address publicly the valedictory function of all India trainees in the regularly and annually held Third Year Training Camp of RSS for training them as leaders. There is great anguish about this visit amongst the Congress stalwarts like P Chidambaram, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Salman Khurshid, Ramesh Chennithala, Jafar Sharif and several others. Some of them have even requested Pranabda to cancel his proposed visit on 7th June when the training camp is to end.
Each one of them have time and again cursed the RSS-pariwar as almost something anti national faithfully as their master’s (Gandhi pariwar’s) voice. The Home Minister in UPA II publicly accused the RSS-pariwar as the epicentre of ‘saffron terror’, knowing fully well it to be only imaginary. It was to meet their political ends only disregarding the national interests. But for being lawful activity they could not do much about it in the past.
But the worry is that it is posing the highest challenge to the Congress in the form of BJP at the political level. It in fact unseated the Congress miserably in the parliament elections of 2014 CE when Modi was installed as the prime minister with full majority and Congress reduced to less than ten percent strength of the House to be denied even the lawful position of leader of opposition.
Naturally Congress wants to defame the RSS-pariwar to the fullest extent possible before the next Lok Sabha elections due in 2019 CE. It reminds of Indira Gandhi who day in and day out cursed RSS as stooge of CIA of America in the nineteen sixties and seventies and imposed emergency to crush the RSS. It was not possible is beside the point. It has grown in strength far larger than the Congress.
In fact the RSS-pariwar is the biggest and perhaps the only all India organization now left in India. It is the only challenge to the Congress at the political level. Pranab Mukherjee was the key minister in the UPA I and II cabinets and acted as ‘sankat mochak’ for Congress whenever such critical occasion arose. Did he agree with that role wholeheartedly then? He did not oppose it for sure. He was then elevated to become the Rashtrapati in 2012 CE.
Rahul Gandhi is now facing trial in Bhivandi-Malegaon court for accusing the RSS for murdering Mahatma Gandhi. It must be very embarrassing to the privileged Gandhi-family to face such an awkward socio-political situation. Rahul Gandhi, day in and day out, curses the BJP, more like his mother, he criticises the RSS-pariwar as untouchable, as anti-Dalit, as anti-reservationist, as anti-secular and as the main obstacle in the progress of nation, as per their imagination.
It is all to garner votes of Dalits, minorities and so on. How come one of their ex-stalwarts now wishes to attend the RSS function and address their trainees at Nagpur? Has the untouchability of RSS gone for him?
How to analyse such a peculiar socio-political problem when the problem has been created for Congress by the ex-sankat-mochak himself? He never had any contact with RSS-pariwar ever earlier. He did meet the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat a couple times when he was Rashtrapati. In fact he had invited Bhagwat for lunch in the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Later on after demitting the office both met again a couple of times. Nobody, including the Gandhis, is known to have taken any objection in these meetings.
As is the practice of RSS leaders first they try to build friendly relations with anyone in such meetings. Then they try to justify the broad vision and mission of RSS to the dignitaries. It has been the practice since the inception of the RSS as has been publicly emphasized by the all India dignitaries of the RSS like the prachar and prasar pramukh and his deputy.
In such a situation it becomes necessary to examine and assess the personality of Pranab Mukherjee as a devoted leader of Congress, almost all through his life. But that does not mean he is the sycophant of Nehru-Gandhi family. He has his own personality other than a mere Congress follower. That is how he had left Congress in Rajiv Gandhi’s regime, formed his own party but later on came back to work with him.
There are varieties of angles to this whole episode. Is it possible that he was feeling slighted and denied his due by the Sonia-Rahul Gandhi duo, in the form of Prime Ministership when it was not to be occupied by any member of the privileged Gandhi family and particularly when it was being offered to some outsider who was considered better to toe the Gandhi family line much better in every respect than Mukherjee himself.
There must have been doubt in Sonia’s mind about Mukherjee toeing the expected line so blindly, as he was leader of high stature in his own right and, hence he was not considered for the top job. Mukherjee was slighted but he swallowed the insult. He was therefore later elevated as Rashtrapati to keep him away and happy. He thus preferred to become a non-party man after demiting the office of Rashtrapati in 2017 CE.
He is certainly not anymore a Congressman, in the formal sense, though he offers advices to any Congress man, more so the leaders. It is said in the media that it was Mukherjee who advised Sonia and Rahul Gandhi to offer unconditional support to HD Kumarswami to form the government after the truncated verdict of Karnataka assembly recently for pre-emptying any possible BJP moves to form government as it did in Goa, Manipur and elsewhere. It well clicked in favour of Congress. It is stated to emphasise Mukherjee being still a Congressman from within. But does it indicate that Mukherjee is from within pro-Congress and particularly anti-BJP or RSS-pariwar?
Now perhaps he feels free to associate with any activity or person so long as the activity carried out by them is within the lawful limits. Or he has become truly a non-party figure and would like to associate with all and sundry in national interests disregarding the narrow party lines. Or does he believe that there must be dialogue with good intentions with all in national life who try to do something in favour of the nation? Or does he think that it is necessary to talk to RSS for it being a far more influential in national life, notwithstanding its ideology? If Congress does not slight Muslim league, the PDF and so many such at least semi-anti-national forces, why can’t it talk with the RSS on national issues?
On the flip side there appears to be a different hidden hint in Mukherjee’s move particularly for Rahul Gandhi, who is now the president and the sole boss of Congress with respect to his extra focus in criticizing the RSS-pariwar in recent times.
Mukherjee expects Rahul to be a matured leader with balanced views and not exhibiting extremes in any way. It does not befit the stature of all India president of Congress. How to make him realize his responsibilities was perhaps Mukherji’s worry. Mukherjee is known as a very balanced leader and therefore considered as sankat mochak of Congress. He sincerely feels or perhaps changed himself to feel sincerely after his meetings with Bhagwat that the RSS is not all that bad and least of all as anti-national and above all politically untouchable.
He is not in a position to advise Rahul to tone down his criticism of the RSS-pariwar in the best national interests. Rahul may not even heed to his advice. He perhaps feels that his fate would be that of Man Mohan Singh when Rahul Gandhi tore apart the draft of the legislative bill to condone the conviction of political leaders to allow them to contest elections.
In such a situation best alternative is to give Rahul indirect hint to not criticize the RSS-pariwar in such extremes and all the time and on all the issues by accepting invitation from the RSS to attend their function at Nagpur. Additionally there is another possibility. Mulgaonkar, the then editor of ‘Indian Express’ had expressed in one of his articles, “Scratch any Congressman and you will find a Sanghi underneath”. It means that the Congressmen are strong Hindus themselves but from within.
Does Mukherjee belong to this category and found time ripe enough to indicate him to be so by accepting the invitation of RSS to attend the function as stated above? The third possibility is that Mukherjee being from Bengal knows the polity there well. He knows the possible dangers there from the extremist Muslim elements to national integrity. By associating with the RSS he perhaps wants to give hints to even Mamta Banerji to beware of such possible dangers to national integration. Mukherjee is trying to give all such hints in just one go by attending the RSS function at Nagpur. Whatever the truth it can’t be far off from these possibilities. Good luck to Hon. Mukherjee from my personal side.
So far no one has thought of this angle of Mukherjee’s trip to Nagpur even remotely. There is a saying in Marathi that if you want to curse your daughter-in-law, don’t do it directly. It is less intelligent. It is better to curse your daughter deliberately and the daughter-in law understands it better.