Sir,
This is in response to Mr. Sushil Kutty’s article titled “Of Pranab and RSS convention”(June 4).
As an independent citizen of a free democratic country, Pranab Mukherjee holds every right to attend function of any organisation. However the development is indeed a bit surprising; given Mukherjee’s consistent protest against religious fundamentalism in his earlier avatar of President, thereby inviting unexpressed wrath of the saffron Government of the day.
Seen on this background of his secular perspective, indeed we should act a bit tolerant towards Mukherjee’s mindset and thought process and wait for his message to be conveyed at the RSS conclave. Why should we prematurely conclude that mere attendance in the programme is nothing but Mukherjee’s endorsement of the antics and “philosophy” of RSS? It might be possible that we would see Mukherjee rather advising the outfit to promote itself as true Indian by awarding adequate respect and tolerant attitude towards all religious groups inspite of remaining true to Hinduism. After all Hinduism and secularism is not necessarily directly opposed to each other. One can remain a true Bengali/Marathi/Hindu/ Muslim/Indian/human being simultaneously. So Mukherjee indeed deserves a bit of leniency and time, thanks to his impeccable secular background and integrity.
Yours etc….
Kajal Chatterjee
D-2/403 Peerless Nagar
Kolkata
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