Congress' Hariprasad welcomes Shivakumar's apology over RSS prayer song

Bengaluru, Aug 26 (PTI) Welcoming Deputy Shivakumar's apology for reciting RSS prayer song in the Legislative Assembly, Senior Congress leader B K Hariprasad on Tuesday said no one in the party should in any way "legitimise" the Sangh.

The MLC had demanded an apology from Shivakumar, who is the Congress' state President.

"Congress party was not built by me or D K Shivakumar, someone has given it to us to save it for the future, if we have strength, we will have to save it and give it to the future generation. No one is permanent, no one will live for 500 years," Hariprasad said in response to a question.

Speaking to reporters here, he said his issue was not with Shivakumar personally, but rather with the act of singing the prayer of an organisation that killed Mahatma Gandhi.

"He (Shivakumar) should not have recited such things, being the party President, I have no objections if he recited such it as the Deputy CM. As a Congress President, there is no need to sing the prayer of RSS, which is opposed to the Congress, the Constitution and tricolour flag. The reason he recited the prayer is a different matter," he added.

Apparently stung by criticism from within the party Shivakumar on Tuesday said he was sorry if anyone was hurt over his rendition of the RSS prayer song "Namaste Sada Vatsale..." in the state assembly and asserted that he was a Congressman and would die as one.

Shivakumar, also the state Congress president, had taken everyone by surprise by singing a couple of lines of the song on the floor of the House last week, during a debate on the June 4 Chinnaswamy stadium stampede.

Noting that Congress doesn't just belong to its office bearers, MLAs, MLCs and MPs, Hariprasad said it is a party supported by 40-50 per cent of the population, it is a party with an ideology.

"If he has felt that what happened was wrong, it is a happy thing. As a Congressman he has accepted, it is a good thing," he said, reacting to Shivakumar's apology.

Pointing to his responsible position in the party, he clarified that his opposition to Shivakumar's rendition of the RSS song was a matter of principle. Hariprasad emphasised that he would never compromise on the Congress' ideology.

"It has been fifty years for me in the party, so whenever something wrong happens, I will say it is wrong, and when it is right, I will say right. I'm in the party for ideology, nothing else," he said.

Responding to a query about Shivakumar calling questioning his loyalty to the Congress party as "fools", Hariprasad said, "There is no need to discuss loyalty... as he has now apologised, the matter ends there." "... such actions may send a wrong message to people as though we are legitimising RSS. There are lakhs of people who believe in our ideology, they should not be hurt," he said.

Asked whether Shivakumar is drifting towards "Soft Hindutva", the MLC said, "I don't know about Soft and Hard Hindutva." "In the Congress party, we follow the Hinduism of Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Vivekananda, Narayana Guru, Kanaka Dasa, while BJP-RSS follows Hindutva of Savarkar, Golwalkar, Hedgewar, Nathuram Godse. They don't belong to Hinduism, they use Hinduism for politics," he said.

To a question as to why no action was taken by the party against Shivakumar, while K N Rajanna was sacked as Minister for speaking against Rahul Gandhi's stand on the "vote theft" issue, Hariprasad said Rajanna did not speak against Rahul Gandhi, he only said things that seemed as though opposing the party stand.

"When I was at the national level of Youth Congress, Shivakumar was district Youth Congress President, while Rajanna was state Vice President of Youth Congress. I know whose stand is what. No one in Congress will go against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi..." he added. PTI KSU ROH