New Delhi: Former Vice-President (V-P) Jagdeep Dhankhar Friday delivered his first public address since his sudden resignation in July, praising the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and extolling the values of the “Hindu spirit”, as he launched a book by Sangh joint general secretary Manmohan Vaidya in Bhopal.
Dhankhar was the chief speaker at the event that took place in Kushabhau Thakre Convention Centre in Bhopal.
Before this, the only public appearance Dhankhar had made since his dramatic resignation was at the swearing-in ceremony of CP Radhakrishnan, his successor in the V-P’s post.
Vaidya’s book, the former V-P said, “dismantles long-propagated myths portraying the RSS as ultra-right, anti-minority and even linked to Gandhi’s assassination”.
He added that the criticism of former President Pranab Mukherjee for visiting the RSS headquarters in 2018 was an attempt at dampening a “nationalistic stance”.
“The extremity and enormity of the condemnation seemed boundless. It was orchestrated to emerge as a narrative to dampen a nationalistic stance. Yet Pranab Da, one of the tallest statesmen of his time, put the entire controversy to rest by reflecting in the visitor’s book at the birthplace of the RSS founder Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar: ‘Today I came here to pay my respect and homage to a great son of Mother India’,” said Dhankhar.
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First Public Engagement since July
Dhankhar stepped down from the post of Vice President of India on the first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament on 21 July this year, citing health reasons. On Friday, after landing in Bhopal, the 74-year-old headed straight to the Madhya Pradesh Raj Bhavan. At the airport, he was greeted with the absence of BJP leaders.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh took a swipe at the ruling party’s absence, saying the BJP values only those who matter in its scheme of things.
“They (BJP) follow the use and throw policy. I cannot say the same for the RSS since he (Dhankhar) has come here to attend their event,” Singh told reporters in Bhopal.
Although Dhankhar cited medical reasons for stepping down, political insiders suggest his resignation was prompted by a serious breakdown in his relationship with the government, effectively forcing him to quit.
His prolonged absence from the public eye had prompted the Opposition to suggest that Dhankhar had been put under house arrest by the government.
In an interview to ANI in August, Union Home Minister Amit Shah sought to put a lid on the speculations, saying Dhankhar had resigned solely due to medical reasons.
‘Indispensable Bharat’
The former Vice President said a spiritual thread has held “Bharat together through every trial, notwithstanding Islamic invasions and British colonialism”.
“It is this inner strength that has enabled Bharat to withstand and survive every attempt to tame it, subdue it or annihilate it, and to survive not merely intact but with dignity and confidence. This spiritually anchored system, Sanatan, eternal yet ever-renewing, reflects the unique capability of a civilisation to reinvent itself while preserving its fundamental essence,” he added.
In his speech Friday, Dhankhar also praised the current dispensation—without naming either the BJP or Prime Minister Narendra Modi—in an apparent move to dispel any notion that his falling out with the government could have been bitter.
“In recent years, the nation has phenomenally accelerated its progress—emerging as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, advancing environmental stewardship, pioneering cost-effective space missions, and expanding access to education and opportunity. On global diplomacy Bharat has held on its own evoking respect and accolades,” he said.
(Edited by Sampurna Panigrahi)
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