Updated: June 9, 2018 10:47 AM IST

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Pranab Mukherjee-RSS Event Row: AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi Hits at Congress, Says Party is Finished.

 

New Delhi, June 9: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi hit out at the Congress after the party leader and former president Pranab Mukherjee attended the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) annual event in Nagpur on June 7. “The Congress is finished. A man who spent 50 years in Congress and was President of India visited RSS headquarters. Do you still have hopes from this party?, asked Owaisi while addressing an event in Hyderabad on Friday.

“We would like to tell Pranab Mukherjee, RSS, BJP, Congress, India and Hindu secular brethren that when Nathuram Godse shot Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel had written that RSS people were celebrating,” Times of India quoted the firebrand leader as saying.

Earlier on Thursday, Pranab Mukherjee had attended the Third Year Sangha Shiksha Varga (SSV) event organised at RSS headquarters in Nagpur and addressed the RSS workers. The RSS invite to Mukherjee had sparked off a controversy, as the Congress leaders expressed unhappiness over his acceptance, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Sangh saw nothing wrong in it.

While addressing the RSS cadres at the Tritiya Varsh Varg’ event, Mukherjee spoke on the concepts of nation, nationalism, and patriotism in the context of India, at the RSS event in Nagpur.

 

“We accept and respect our pluralism and celebrate our diversity. Our national identity has emerged after a long drawn process of confluence and assimilation, the multiple cultures and faiths make us special and tolerant. The nation is defined as a large group of people sharing the same language, heritage. Nationalism is defined as identifying oneself with one’s own nation. Patriotism is defined as devotion to one’s own country. We derive our strength from tolerance. We respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity,” the former president had said.

Furthermore, he asserted,”Intolerance will only dilute our national identity. Any attempt to define our nation through religion, dogma or intolerance will only fade our existence.”