Tell the Sangh what is wrong with its ideology: Chidambaram to Mukherjee

After having accepted the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh invite, former President Pranab Mukherjee should go and tell the Sangh what is wrong with its ideology, former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said.

He was speaking at a discussion on “India at 71 -- Hits and Misses” after the launch of book ‘Straight Talk’.

The senior Congress leader said there is no point debating now on why the former president accepted the invite to be the chief guest at an RSS function in Nagpur.

“Now that he has accepted the invitation, there is no point debating why he did so. The more important thing to say is, ‘Sir you have accepted the invitation, please go there and tell them what is wrong with their ideology’,” he said when asked about Mukherjee accepting the RSS invite.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said it is a “somewhat stupidish approach” to judge Mukherjee over acceptance of the invitation.

“Unless and until you hear what the former president says there, you should not judge him,” he said.

A large number of Congress leaders have criticised the former president for accepting the RSS invitation and have asked him to reconsider “for the sake of secularism”.

The former president is slated to address the Sangha Shiksha Varga’s valedictory function at RSS headquarters in Nagpur on June 7.