Congress leader Manish Tewari questions Pranab's RSS meeting
Pranab Mukherjee
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari asked if his attempt at meeting the RSS was aimed at developing harmony and lowering political bitterness with the Sangh.He further hit out at the former president by saying that his meeting with the RSS will be seen as an attempt to mainstream RSS in secular & pluralistic consciousness
A day after the former president and Congress veteran leader Pranab Mukherjee attended the RSS's Tritiya Varsh event in Nagpur, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari questioned him about his belief on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
In a series of tweeton Friday, Tewari saidthat it was Mukherjee'sgeneration that had "cautioned" the people during the 80s and the 90s.
He further reminded Mukherjee that he was the part of the government which had banned the RSS during the 1975 and 1992.
His tweet read, "May I ask you a question that you still have not answered that is bothering millions of Secularists & Pluralists. Why did you choose go to the RSS headquarters & deliver homilies on Nationalism? Your generation cautioned mine in training camp after training camp thru 80’s &90’s about the intent & designs of RSS. You were a part of the Govt that banned RSS in 1975 & then again in 1992. Don’t you think you should tell us what was evil about RSS then that has become virtuous now?"
He asked if his attempt at meeting the RSS was aimed at developing harmonyand lowering politicalbitterness with the Sangh.
He further hit out at the former president by saying that his meeting with the RSS will be seen as an attempt to mainstream RSS in secular & pluralistic consciousness.
He tweeted, "Either what we were told then was wrong or your lending respectability if not legitimacy to RSS by the act of association is not kosher given your stature in Public life.Was it an attempt at ideological rapprochement/lowering bitterness in political firmament/positioning as cynics suggest. Whatever the motivation was it will be seen as just an attempt to mainstream RSS in secular & pluralistic consciousness.History tells us when Nazi’s were strutting around Europe in black berets Chamberlain thru Munich Pact- 1938 thought he had bought the ‘Peace of our Times’.What a false dawn it was."