Intolerance will dilute our national identity: Pranab Mukherjee

At the highly-anticipated speech at the RSS's Tritiya Varsh event in Nagpur former president and veteran Congress leader  Dr Pranab Mukherjee said any attempt at defining our nationhood in terms of dogma and identities or religion, region, hatred and intolerance will only lead to dilution of our identity. 

''Our national identity has emerged after a long drawn process of confluence and assimilation, the multiple cultures and faiths make us special and tolerant,'' the former president said. 

Batting for pluralism at the RSS event, the Congress leader said he was there to share his understanding on the concepts of nation, nationalism and patriotism in the context of India. 

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''As Gandhi ji explained Indian nationalism was not exclusive nor aggressive nor destructive,'' Mukherjee noted. 

The former president also quoted from the first prime minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's book 'Discovery of India,' and stated nationalism can only come out of the ideological fusion of Hindu, Muslims, Sikhs and other groups in India.

''It was this very nationalism that Pandit Nehru so vividly expressed in the book 'Discovery of India', he wrote, "I am convinced that nationalism can only come out of the ideological fusion of Hindu, Muslims, Sikhs and other groups in India,": Dr Pranab Mukherjee in Nagpur