Former President of India Dr . Pranab Mukherjee at concluding ceremony of RSS third year Sangh Shiksha Varg underlines the civilisational continuity of Bharat and gives a call for ending all forms of violence and intolerance to make India a happy country in the world.
Virag Pachpore from Nagpur
Shri Pranab Mukherjee along with RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat at the house of RSS
founder Dr KB Hedgewar at Mahal in Nagpur
Dr. Mukherjee concluded his speech with “Vande Mataram”, an anathema to Congress party and the Islamists in this country
Laying all speculations and probabilities regarding his address to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Tritiya Varsh Sangh Shiksha Varg valedictory function on June 7, former President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee called for freeing the public discourse from all forms of violence, physical and verbal to make India a happy country in the world. “We must move from anger, violence and conflict to harmony and happiness,” he said appealing to the swayamsevaks to be agents of peace, harmony and happiness as “this and only this will be able to create a happy nation where nationalism flows automatically”.
Stating that he accepted the invitation of the RSS as he wanted to share his understanding of the concepts of Nation, Nationalism and Patriotism in the context of India that is Bharat, the former President and a prominent former Congress leader explained at length what these concepts meant to him. He said India has been an open society, connected to the world by Silk and Spice routes that exchanged besides mercantile and commerce the ideas of culture, faith and inventions as the merchants, scholars and sages traversed the mountains and crossed the deserts, seas and oceans. Nalanda, Vikramshila, Takshshila, Valabhi, Somapura were some of the universities that catered to the educational and academic needs of the world for over 1800 years, he said. These universities were the magnets for the finest minds and scholars in the world.
“India was a nation long before the concept of nation-state developed in Europe and the European Nation-State model does not apply to India, as the Indian nationalism emanated from ‘universalism’ of the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” —Dr. Pranab Mukherjee, Former President of India
The former President further said that India was a nation long before the concept of nation-state developed in Europe and the European Nation-State model does not apply to India as the “Indian nationalism emanated from ‘universalism’ of the philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ and ‘Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah, Sarve Santu Niramaya’.
Endorsing what RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat said earlier in his speech about the diversity of Indian culture, Shri Mukherjee said: “Our national identity has emerged through a long drawn process of confluence, assimilation and co-existence. The multiplicity in culture, faith and language is what makes India special. We accept and respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity.” Quoting from eminent historian Vincent Smith, former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindra Nath Tagore, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Surendra Nath Banerjee, Shri Mukherjee said India has a long historical tradition of honouring all faiths, thoughts and ideologies that maintained their individualities yet merged into one nation that is called Bharat.
Sharing some of the truths that he internalised during his long tenure in the public life as a parliamentarian and administrator Shri Mukherjee said the soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance. “This plurality of our society has come through assimilation of ideas over centuries… India’s nationhood is not one language, one religion and one enemy. It is the ‘Perennial Universalism’ of 1.3 billion people who use more than 122 languages and 1600 dialects in their everyday lives, practice seven major religions under one system, one flag and one identity of being ‘Bharatiya; and have ‘No Enemies’. That is what makes Bharat a diverse and united nation, he said.
The former President said that in the index of happiness, India is mapped 133rd out of the 156 countries exposing the very poor state of our nation. “Let the objective of spreading peace, harmony and happiness inform the formulation of our public policy and guide all the actions of our state and citizens in their everyday life. This and only this will be able to create a happy nation, where nationalism flows automatically,” he concluded.
Strength is needed for fulfilling any work. But that strength should be positive and benevolent. The RSS has been busy creating such strength of society to bring about positive transformation – —Mohan Bhagwat, Sarsanghachalak, RSS
Breaking the RSS tradition, the Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat spoke before the chief guest and expressed gratitude to Shri Pranab Mukherjee whom he described as ‘rich in knowledge’ and ‘rich in experience’ for accepting invitation to address the swayamsevaks drawn from all over the country .
An Address to Bharat
The address of Pranab Mukherjee at Sangh Shiksha Varg highlights an excellence of ‘Constitutional Nationalism’. The speech could not have been made on any platform other than that of the Sangh
Sandeep Singh
(The writer is an author and political analyst)
President Dr. Pranab Mukherjee addressed the closing ceremony of the “Tritiya Varsha Sangh Shiksha Varg”, of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on June 7 at Nagpur.
This was a speech which could have been made only at RSS platform. This was a speech about Nation, Nationalism and Patriotism in the context of India that is Bharat. The speech did not mention even once the word minority. It has been ages since one heard someone with a background of Congress party talking about all Indians as being equal. The speech talked about India and its plurality, diversity and unity.
There was not much difference between the two speech i.e. of Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat and former President Pranab Mukherjee, except on two counts. First, one speech was in Hindi and the other speech was in English. Secondly, Pranab Mukherjee’s speech was a bit longer than Mohan Bhagwat’s speech.
The common part was how all Indians are equal and there should be harmony among all of them. Shri Mohan Bhagwat speaking before Pranab Mukherjee had said his organisation wanted to unify the entire society and while people might have different views, they were all children of Bharat Mata.
Patriotic Echoes
In his candid speech, Dr. Mukherjee, suggested that, “India was a State long before the concept of the European nation-state gained ground”. He would have been trolled for saying this by the left liberal secular media cabal. He clearly mentioned that Mughals were invaders and British were colonisers. Since Independence the-Left liberal secular media cabal led by Congress has been preaching that Mughals came to Bharat to teach how to cook biryani and British taught to bake cake.
He talked about Mahajanapadas, Chandragupta Maurya victory over Greeks and other parts of Indian history which have been masked by left liberal secular media cabal. He talked about Surendranath Banerjee, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, completely forgotten and disowned by Congress.
He said, “Thanks to the efforts of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Princely States merged leading to the consolidation of India.” He did not give credit to Nehru for unifying India.
Dr. Mukherjee underlined the fact that, “A dialogue is necessary not only to balance the competing interests but also to reconcile them.” He pointed out to Congress party which was objecting openly to his participation in an RSS event. He also added that, “We have done well on our economic growth indicators”, praising the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP led Central Government. He ended the speech with “Vande Mataram”, an anathema to Congress party and Islamists in this country.
Apart from the word minority some of the interesting omissions from the speech of Mukherjee were the names Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Congress party itself. He mentioned Congress party but that was of before independence. Mukherjee is a Nehruvian Congressmen, the same Nehru which had invited RSS to republic day parade. He has seen the Congress and its leader’s hatred for RSS, Hindus and India from close quarters and may be that is the reason he avoided mentioning them.
His ultimate praise and belief in RSS were reflected in his words, when he said: “You are young, disciplined, well trained and highly educated. Please wish for peace, harmony and happiness. Our Motherland is asking for that. Our Motherland deserves that.” There could not have been a better speech to conclude ‘Tritiya Varsha Sangh Shiksha Varg’ of RSS.
In a speech of facts, Pranab Mukherjee articulated his vision for India which only RSS can fulfil. And last but not the least; he accepted the invite because he wanted to make a speech which could have been made only from the RSS platform.
Shri Bhagwat categorically stated that the RSS always upheld the age-old tradition of India of celebrating the diversity and to experience the latent unity in the diversity. Everyone born in this country is a “Bharatvasi” and the differences of language, sect or ‘sampradaya’ and political ideologies notwithstanding all are one. The RSS respects this diversity and experiences the inherent unity.
We may have differences of opinions, but we should not have differences of mind, the RSS Sarsanghachalak said emphasising that the diversity of our life has enriched our national life. The RSS believed that the governments alone cannot bring about the transformation of the society. People also have to play a role in this process. Strength is needed for fulfilling any work. But that strength should be positive and benevolent. The RSS has been creating such strength of society to bring about positive transformation. The Sangh has sailed through many turbulent situations and now there is some favourable atmosphere. But the swayamsevaks do not get complacent with this favourable atmosphere and keep them busy to fulfill their mission of making India a world leader and teacher of humanity.
Earlier, the participants of the Varg performed physical drill and demonstrations. Sarvadhikari Sardar Gajendra Singh Sandhu introduced Shri Pranab Mukherjee and Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat welcomed him with a bouquet. Varg Karyavah Shri Shyam Manohar provided details of the Varg and Nagpur Mahanagar Sanghachalak Shri Rajesh Loya introduced the dignitaries present.
Earlier, Shri Pranab Mukherjee visited the house of RSS founder Dr. KB Hedgewar at Mahal and wrote in the visitor’s book that he came to pay respects to the great son of Mother India.
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