On 6th June, Former President Pranab Mukherjee delivered an eloquent speech on Nation, Nationalism and Patriotism at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh event, in Nagpur. He spoke about the continuity of Indian civilization despite several attacks by ‘Muslim invaders’ and British colonialism. During his speech, he said, “India was a state long before the concept of the European Nation State gained ground after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648.” This was a huge setback for the Congress and Nehruvian intellectuals who believe that India came to existence after Nehru authored ‘Discovery of India’. He also hailed the founder of RSS, Dr. Hedgewar, as a ‘great son of mother India’. He also gave a valuable lesson to the Congress that RSS is not untouchable and discrimination and ostracizing someone on the basis of ideology is not right. In a democracy, dialogue is necessary. He in fact endorsed many ideas and philosophy of the RSS.
Ideologically, both Mohan Bhagwat and Pranab Mukherjee seemed to be in sync. They both laid emphasis on Patriotism and Nationalism, the cultural influence of Hinduism, deep roots of Hinduism, pluralism, tolerance, acceptance, peaceful co-existence, etc. and fundamentally agreed with each other on most of these points. Overall the event was successful, productive and Pranab Mukherjee taught a very good lesson to the entire pro-leftist cabal which has been projecting patriotism and nationalism as redundant and extremist values.
People were really impressed with former President’s deep knowledge about India. Requests to join RSS have increased by five times after Pranab Mukherjee’s speech, especially in former President’s home state- West Bengal. Senior RSS leader Biplab Roy said, “From June 1 to June 6, on an average, we used to receive 378 requests everyday on our website ‘Join RSS’ at the national level. On June 7, the day Mukherjee addressed our Shiksha Varg, we received 1,779 requests. After June 7, we have been receiving 1,200-1,300 requests everyday. Total 40 per cent requests were from West Bengal.”
According to News 18 report, when Biplab Roy was asked about whether the speech of Pranab Mukherjee at RSS headquarter led to the increase in popularity of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh among masses, he said, “It would be wrong to interpret it in that way that because of Mukherjee, the acceptability of RSS has increased. RSS is popular among masses because of its activities in the society.” He further added, “But, yes after Mukherjee’s address there has been an increase in such interests among the masses, this is one of the reasons.” He also revealed, “Till few years back, the RSS used to run 700 shakas in south Bengal region and 300 shakas in north Bengal, but now we are running 1,200 and 400 shakas, respectively in south and north Bengal.”
This will certainly irk the Congress high command who was against Pranab Mukherjee’s decision to attend the RSS function. Not only Pranab Mukherjee attended the RSS function but his visit is now causing a sudden increase in the membership of RSS.
To take on Mamata Banerjee’s brand of politics, rise of RSS is very necessary in West Bengal. People in West Bengal are living under fear, anyone gets killed anywhere. Her brand of politics was reflected in the recently concluded West Bengal panchayat polls which was marred with controversy and violence. BJP workers were recently killed in West Bengal but the media maintained stoic silence. Illegal arrests, political murders and state sponsored violence have been blatantly used by Mamata government in order to oppress the Hindus and the BJP workers living in the state. Despite repeated attacks on RSS and BJP workers, the membership of RSS and BJP is only increasing. BJP is making deep inroads into West-Bengal and one day it will definitely put an end to oppressive, anti-Hindu and anti-development politics of Mamata Banerjee.