Advani praises Mukherjee for attending RSS event, says it shows his grace and goodwill
New Delhi, June 8: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) patriach L. K. Advani on Friday described former President Pranab Mukherjee attending the RSS programme at its headquarters in Nagpur his "grace and goodwill" and said it was a significant event in the countrys contemporary history.
"Yesterday's (Thursday) visit by Mukherjee, to the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and his illuminating exposition of the noble idea and ideals of Indian nationalism, are a significant event in our country's contemporary history," he said in a statement here.
Advani also hailed RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat for inviting Mukherjee to address the swayamsevaks who completed the third year of training this year.
"I also heartily congratulate Mukherjee for his grace and goodwill in accepting the invitation," the BJP leader said.
Advani remarks came a day after Mukherjee addressed its cadre in Nagpur. The former President's decision to accept the RSS invite had drawn a lot of flak from several Congress leaders -- and his daughter.
"There was significant concord and resonance in the views expressed by both leaders. Both of them highlighted the essential unity of India, which accepts and respects all diversities including the pluralism of faiths," said Advani, who is also a Lok Sabha member from Gujarat's Gandhinagar constituency.
He asserted that as a lifelong swayamsevak of the RSS, "I believe that these two national leaders have truly set a praiseworthy example of dialogue transcending ideological affiliations and differences".
Praising Mukherjee, Advani said, "I have had the pleasure and privilege of knowing, and working closely with, Pranab Babu in and outside Parliament.
"His own reflective nature, combined with his long and varied experience in public life, have made him a statesman who strongly believes in the necessity of dialogue and cooperation among people of various ideological and political backgrounds," the BJP leader said.
Advani, who has served as the BJP president for the longest period, expressed his happiness over the RSS Chief for expanding and intensifying its efforts to reach out to various sections of the nation in the spirit of dialogue.
"Such conversations, conducted in the spirit of openness and mutual respect, will surely help in creating a much-needed atmosphere of tolerance, harmony and cooperation to build an India of our common dreams," Advani added.
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PM Modi, RSS strengthening wall in path of SCs, STs, OBCs: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS were strengthening the wall standing in the path of Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs, even as he acknowledged that the UPA took steps to weaken that wall but not to the extent it should have.
Addressing the 'Samvidhan Rakshak Abhiyaan', Gandhi also referred to the function held on Constitution Day in Parliament and said that it is his guarantee, that "Modi has not read" the Constitution.
"If PM Modi would have read this book then what he does daily, he would not do it," Gandhi said, displaying a copy of the Constitution of India.
Gandhi said the country's whole system is pitted against Dalits, Adivasis and backward class people.
He said a wall obstructs the path of Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs and Modi and the RSS are strengthening that wall by "adding cement to it".
"Slowly the wall (obstructing the path of SCs, STs, OBCs) is getting strengthened. Earlier, the UPA government gave MGNREGA, the land acquisition act, the right to food...those were ways to weaken that wall. Today, when I look back, I can say the UPA government did not weaken the wall to the extent it should have, it did not do it as strongly as it should have," Gandhi said.
"However, we used to make efforts to weaken that wall but they (the BJP) are strengthening that wall by adding concrete," the former Congress president said.
Gandhi said a caste survey being carried out in Telangana is a historic step and the Congress will do the same wherever it comes to power.
