Pranab Da’s ‘Real Message’: To Fight RSS, You Must Engage With It

“Pranab da touched a raw nerve of the RSS, how agitated must they be,” writes Ashutosh.

Image of former President Pranab Mukherjee used for representational purposes.

(Photo: The Quint)

Pranab Mukherjee’s speech has ended. The controversy should also end. Those who were thinking that Pranab Mukherjee shouldn’t go to the RSS function should calm down, as should those who thought that Pranab da has struck some sort of deal with the RSS. Pranab Mukherjee gave RSS a new lesson on nationalism on their own turf. He explained the true meaning of Bharatvarsha.

He spoke about how India can become a world leader. And he also implied that the path of the RSS is not right; that the path they want to take the country towards is not in line with Indian culture.

India needs a spirited debate on our relationship with RSS, the entity that is trying to moderate every aspect of our lives. Is having no contact with it a solution or submitting to it entirely a route? The truth is, a section of India still hasn’t figured out what it should do after all. The ‘Pranab Mukherjee Controversy’ has given an opportunity for an open discussion on the issue.

Congress Needs to Get With the Times

The news of Pranab da at the RSS function sent shockwaves through the Congress. The party sent messengers to Pranab da, asking him to decline the invitation. Congress felt that a senior member of a party that claims to be fighting the RSS, attending an RSS event would send out the wrong message — that the Congress isn’t actually fighting the Sangh, it is simply pretending to do so. So the Congress was really worried.

This is the same Congress that still hasn’t been able to handle PV Narasimha Rao, who was instrumental in changing the country’s direction. The long scar on the Congress, visible even today, was drawn by Narasimha Rao. The reason — it was under Rao that the Congress failed to prevent the demolition of the Babri Masjid. It fears that accepting Rao will ensure that they lose their minority vote bank.

Today, the Congress needs to understand that a new age establishes new values. And to fight the RSS in 2018, new weapons will have to be invented. If a small incident like Pranab da’s acceptance of an invite to the RSS headquarters can shake them up, then the Congress will never be able to fight the RSS.

Congress has tried to change itself after the Gujarat elections, but it has not been able to completely negate its Leftist and Socialist influences. The Left remains in favour of the total negation of the right-wing; it doesn’t want to engage with the RSS in any way. This is a problem with its ideology.

The Left has always been exclusivist. It not only imagines a classless society, but it identifies the class enemy and acts on every chance to demolish the enemy. In erstwhile Soviet Russia, and China, millions of people have been murdered on the pretext of fighting the ‘enemy of class’. In a county like Cambodia, a third of the population lost their lives in the name of Communism.

Sure, in India the Left has adopted the democratic route. But it doesn’t reject violence at a basic level. In West Bengal, violence is still an integral tool in a political fight; this is Communism’s contribution. By going to the RSS bastion, Pranab Mukherjee has proved that in a democracy you need to engage with even the enemy.

What RSS Gained by Inviting Pranab Da

One thing the RSS has to be applauded for is that they fully utilise both policies of denial and engagement. Why did the RSS need to invite Pranab Mukherjee to its event? There has to be a reason. They invited Pranab Mukherjee knowing that his ideology is in complete opposition to their’s. They aren’t naïve enough to think that while attending their event, Pranab Mukherjee will echo their beliefs. Yet they invited him.

They gained two things from this. One, they managed to deliver the message that their attitude towards other ideologies is not of negation; that they believe in democracy. Mohan Bhagwat, in his speech, reiterated that despite differing ideologies, they believe in working together; that the RSS is not intolerant. Bhagwat is thinking of how to dispel the accusations of intolerance against the RSS.

Two, by inviting Pranab Mukherjee, the RSS managed to cause a disruption in the opposition camp. In marketing terms, it was a ‘disruptive tactic’. The Congress was indeed disturbed, as were the liberal elite of the country.

In a war, half the battle is won when the opposing side struggles to even comprehend what steps the enemy has taken; what their intentions are. The debate was not what Pranab Mukherjee would say at the RSS event; rather it was why he had chosen to go there in the first place. RSS won the psychological battle and the opposition remained self-absorbed, but in the end, Pranab Mukherjee proved why he is the ‘master of masters’.

Pranab Da’s Subtle Message to RSS

At the event on 7 June, Mohan Bhagwat was seen talking about harmony; he was trying to explain that the Sangh is not what it is depicted as. But Pranab Mukherjee said what he had to. He told the RSS that the country will not become great and glorious by propagating hate. India will only become a world leader when it takes everyone along, respects all religions, and does not do politics in the name of any religion. He gave the RSS every lesson that it did not want to learn.

In 2014, the seeds of hate were planted deep in the country’s soil. A conspiracy to target the minority communities and make them second class citizens has been at play.

Today, the minorities are scared, they find themselves feeling helpless, their voices are being suppressed. There is an environment of intolerance everywhere. Despite it all, Pranab Mukherjee stood on an RSS stage and said that this intolerance is not in accordance with the country’s culture.

He went on to say that there is a need to protect the country from violence, irrespective of whether the violence is verbal or physical.

Those who are intelligent, understood that he was telling them to not try to divide the country in the name of nationalism. The nationalism that RSS advocates is wrong and is taking the country down the wrong path.

Pranab Da Upheld Nehru & Gandhi’s Ideals

Since 2014, the Modi government and RSS have been working at eliminating Jawaharlal Nehru's legacy. They hold Nehru responsible for everything that is wrong with the country. A plot to totally destroy Nehru’s image before the upcoming generation is in full swing. But Pranab Mukherjee went ahead and proclaimed from the RSS forum that the country's soul resides in constitutional secularism. That this is the country’s religion. That is the real faith.

Quoting the ‘Discovery of India’, he repeated Nehru’s words that India ‘is a union of civilisations.’ He brought up Gandhi, who hasn’t been given much respect by the RSS. To top it all, Pranab da praised Emperor Ashoka and spoke of learning from him.

Now, the RSS has always held that India was weakened because of Ashoka, who embraced ‘non-violence’. Because Ashoka converted to Buddhism, Hindutva-followers see Ashoka as a destructor of Hinduism. Pranab Mukherjee touched a raw nerve of the RSS, how agitated must they be.

Pranab Mukherjee has given an example of fighting ideology at the level of ideology. In this sense, his trip was successful. If you have to fight the RSS, denial is not going to work.

The Sangh will have to be engaged with. Ideological challenges will have to be placed before them. This will be a long fight, but it has to be fought. This is the message of Pranab Mukherjee’s visit.

(This piece was originally published on Quint Hindi and has been translated by Mariam Shaheen.)

(The writer is an author and spokesperson of AAP. He can be reached at @ashutosh83B. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)