Pranab Showed Grace and Goodwill : Adwani

NEW DELHI:

Bhartiya Janata Party patriarch Lal Krishna Advani on Friday lauded former president Pranab Mukherjee for attending the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) event in Nagpur on Thursday. Advani said that Pranab showed grace and goodwill in accepting the invitation. “I warmly commend Shri Mohan Bhagwat ji, Sarsanghchalak of the RSS, for inviting Shri Mukherjee to address the swayamsevaks who completed the third year of training this year. I also heartily congratulate Shri Mukherjee for his grace and goodwill in accepting the invitation,” he said in a statement on Friday.

Advani said that the views shared by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Pranab at the event had a lot in common and expressed hope that such conversations will help in creating an atmosphere of tolerance, harmony and cooperation.

“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. 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,” he added.

Yesterday’s visit by Shri Pranab Mukherjee, India’s former President, to the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Nagpur, and his illuminating exposition of the noble idea and ideals of Indian nationalism, are a significant event in our country’s contemporary history.

I warmly commend Shri Mohan Bhagwat ji, Sarsanghchalak of the RSS, for inviting Shri Mukherjee to address the swayamsevaks who completed the third year of training this year. I also heartily congratulate Shri Mukherjee for his grace and goodwill in accepting the invitation.

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.

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.

I have had the pleasure and privilege of knowing, and working closely with, Shri 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.

I am happy that, under the leadership of Shri Bhagwat ji, the RSS has expanded and intensified its efforts to reach out to various sections of our 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.