RSS Nagpur event: Pranab Mukherjee has his way, speaks last

It had not come easy. Despite hectic “negotiations” for the last two days, the final programme that the RSS circulated on Thursday morning still showed Mohan Bhagwat as the last speaker. However Mukherjee’s office stood its ground and made it clear to the Sangh brass that the established protocol for events attended by former Presidents require him to speak last and that should be adhered to regardless of the “protocol” for the RSS graduation ceremony. The other protocol requirement — that there be an odd number of chairs on the dais so that the chief guest is seated in the middle — did not need much convincing. There were five chairs on the dais.

Former President Pranab Mukherjee at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur on Thursday. (Express photo by Monica Chaturvedi)

Protocol aside, Mukherjee’s office had another reason to be cautious. While the RSS has in the past invited people from varied walks of life and ideologies to the graduation ceremony of sorts for pracharaks, the practice of the sarsanghchalak having the last word has ensured that all criticism is responded to right there, while the critic is seated on the dais. In 2007, former Air Chief Marshal A Y Tipnis was invited to the Nagpur camp by then Sarsanghchalak K S Sudarshan. Without targeting the RSS directly, Tipnis delivered a veiled critique that dwelt on secularism, tolerance and faith in the Constitution — similar to the address Mukherjee gave on Thursday, quoting from Tagore and Nehru to deliver the message of pluralism and nationalism. In Tipnis’s case, his speech was followed by a point-by-point rebuttal by Sudarshan.