RSS issues statement over 'great' Pranab Mukherjee accepting their invite, even as Congress remains mum

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has issued a statement over the invitation that has been sent to and accepted by former President of India Pranab Mukherjee and the subsequent furore that has broken out on account of his long association with the Congress party.

The RSS' statement reads as follows:

"This isn't surprising for those who know & understand the Sangh, because RSS has always invited prominent people of the society in its programmes. This time, we invited Dr Pranab Mukherjee & it's his greatness that he has accepted our invitation."

Before the RSS has issued its statement, the impending presence of the former President at Nagpur on June 7 at an event organised by the Sangh had caused a number of Opposition leaders to speak out against him.

Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit read out a litany of things that Pranab Mukherjee had said about the RSS in his earlier capacity as Congress leader and senior UPA minister and asked whether he had changed his stance, and also, whether the RSS had lost all self-respect by inviting him despite these remarks.

Dikshit said:

"The RSS will know the words Pranab Mukherjee used to describe its communal violence and filth. As per him (Pranab Mukherjee), there is nothing worse, more filthy or anti-national, or a bigger liar than the RSS, and these are his own words to us. So a person who considers RSS to be worse than a poisonous snake and who used to say that the organisation shouldn't be in the country a minute longer... If the RSS is calling that person, than why is it calling him? Has he changed his view or has the RSS lost its self-respect?"

A short while later, the Congress party's spokesperson Tom Vaddakan, while briefing media, put the onus on Pranab Mukherjee to answer on why he had accepted the invite and said he had only one comment on the matter -- "No comment".

Meanwhile, the CPI(M)'s Dr Fuad Halim said that the former President should have avoided the invite from the RSS and that by being present at the event, Pranab Mukherjee would be doing a disservice to the ideas he has lived with all his life. Dr Halim also added that Pranab Mukherjee would be doing a disservice to his position of former President of India.

Rajya Sabha MP Dr Subramanian Swamy said that the matter was a big setback for Rahul Gandhi and added that there had always been friction between Sonia Gandhi and Pranab Mukherjee.

Pranab Mukherjee is slated to be the chief guest at the valedictory session of the 'Tritiya Varsh Varg' or the Third Year Course organised on June 7 by the RSS leadership.