The controversy surrounding former President and former Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to RSS headquarters refuses to die down. At first Mukherjee’s visit was highly criticized by Congress which was followed by a complete meltdown of the ‘liberals’ as he hailed RSS founder Hedgewar as ‘great son of India’. So much so that as per NDTV journalist, Sonia Gandhi had even asked senior leaders to tweet their disappointment on Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Nagpur.
However, it so happened that Mukherjee and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat essentially said the same thing. Their views on the concept of nationalism, nation and patriotism were quite similar. In fact, the RSS magazine also said that Mukherjee presented a vision for India which only the RSS could fulfil. So-called historians like Ram Guha tried to twist the statements to save their faces.
Mohan Bhagwat’s unitary and homogenising nationalism has been shamed by Pranab Mukherjee’s catholic and broad-minded understanding of what it means to be an Indian. Mukherjee dwells on the significance of our Constitution, a document Bhagwat would not or could not mention.
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) June 7, 2018
Despite the displeasure and strong rumours that Congress President Rahul Gandhi had not invited Pranab Mukherjee for the grand iftar party hosted by the former last night, Pranab Mukherjee was present there last night.
However, Mukherjee’s presence does not seem to have gone down quite well with others in the opposition who have branded him an ‘RSS sympathizer’.
Despite liberals trying to spin that Pranab Mukherjee ‘taught lessons’ to the RSS, their favourite Muslim leader seems unconvinced. President of All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Party & Member of Parliament Lok Sabha, Asaduddin Owaisi, took a dig at Mukherjee and Rahul by saying how Mukherjee came comfortably to an iftar hosted by a ‘Janeudhari’ after delivering a speech at the RSS head office.
Give a Speech at RSS Head Office,praise it’s Founder and comfortably come to Janedharu Iftar party and if my party contest elections will be called communal & what not but inviting & sharing a table with @CitiznMukherjee is “normal ,acceptable “Hypocrisy of Highest order https://t.co/JiAkDAbiX7
— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) June 13, 2018
He called the Gandhi sharing the table with Mukherjee the ‘hypocrisy of highest order’. Congress seems to be in a catch-22 situation. Unlike BJP, which has a more or less clear ideology, the Congress seems to get into trouble when it tries to appease one group or the other.
From what it seems, Congress needs to pull up their socks and improvise on their propaganda, as it is neither selling online, on Twitter nor offline, like their anti-BJP ‘United Opposition’ camp, like AIMIM’s Owaisi.
