New Delhi: Despite voices of disapproval from Congress over his decision to accept an invite to attend an RSS event, former President Pranab Mukherjee’s has arrived at Nagpur for the function today. The latest and strongest objection came from Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter and Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee.
She told him that no one, not even the RSS, really expected his speech to endorse the views of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, the ideological mentor of the BJP.
“But the speech will be forgotten, visuals will remain and those will be circulated with fake statements,” Sharmistha Mukherjee said in a series of tweets.
Sharmistha Mukherjee’s effort to underscore the visuals of Pranab Mukherjee’s presence at an RSS event rather than the content of his speech is seen as a counter to the former President’s contention that his decision should be assessed after hearing his speech at Nagpur. The RSS had last month announced the former President’s decision to be the chief guest at the valedictory function of Sangh Shiksha Varg, a training camp for RSS volunteers.
Her tweets came after rumours that Sharmistha Mukherjee, who heads the women’s wing of Delhi Congress, could quit the party and join the BJP. In between, there were suggestions that her father, who had spent a lifetime in the Congress, had signalled his mind by making this Nagpur visit and the daughter was to follow suit.
Sharmistha Mukherjee, who was on a vacation, was taken aback after she returned to Delhi when she started receiving calls for confirmation on rumours about her switching to BJP. Soon enough, her senior, Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken, also called her up. He later tweeted a response to the rumours.
“She told me, that she is in politics, just because of her firm faith in the ideology of the Congress party,” Maken tweeted.
Sharmistha Mukherjee’s very public rejoinder to her father, and a sharp attack on the RSS, came two hours later.
Sharmistha Mukherjee said she hoped Pranab Mukherjee realises “from today’s incident” how the BJP dirty tricks department operates.
She added that his visit to Nagpur would give the BJP and RSS a handle to plant false stories and spread false rumours as today, making them “somewhat believable.And this is just d (the) beginning,” she tweeted.
Ahmed Patel, the Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat who had been UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s closest advisors, also tweeted: “I did not expect this from Pranab da”.
Ever since the news of him accepting the invite went public, 82-year-old former President Pranab Mukherjee has been repeatedly asked to reconsider his decision by various leaders of the Congress, his party for five decades till he became the president in 2012.
Prasanta Patnaik