Govt implementing Shyama Prasad Mookerjee's vision, says RSS leader

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 13 (PTI) J. Nandakumar, national coordinator of Prajna Pravah said that Union government is now implementing the policies of Shyama Prasad Mookerjee one by one, as his thoughts and works continue to inspire.

Nandakumar, a Sangh Parivar ideologue, was speaking at a lecture series organised by the Kerala Rajbhavan to commemorate the 125th birth year of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder.

The Kerala government, earlier, had strongly criticised Governor Rajendra Arlekar, accusing him of using Raj Bhavan, a constitutional entity, to propagate RSS ideology.

The first lecture was delivered by S Gurumurthy a few months ago.

Quoting a speech by Mookerjee, who was a minister in the Jawaharlal Nehru Cabinet as a representative of the Jan Sangh, Nandakumar said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) should be viewed with reference to what he had said.

"Why should Hindus in East Pakistan continue to live in fear, while we remain silent, in the name of secularism?" said J Nandakumar directly quoting Mookerjee.

"Read CAA in this background," Nandakumar said.

He said Mookerjee had categorically mentioned in his resignation letter that national unity cannot be achieved by appeasing those who "deny the very basis of our cultural oneness." "This was the stand taken by him when the government was meekly surrendering to the pressure from divisive forces, the so-called pseudo-secularists," Nandakumar said.

Nandakumar said Mookerjee always believed in cultural nationalism, and he believed in such a system of education, and that is what is now being brought in as the National Education Policy.

"Mookerjee always wanted an education policy with the nation at its centre," he said.

He said the Aatmanirbhar Bharat programme also is the brainchild of Mookerjee, as he clearly elaborated his development policy when he was the industries minister.

"Mookerjee has clearly said that development diverse from the self is another form of dependency," Nandakumar said.

The state's ruling Left party had previously described the invitation to RSS ideologues in the lecture series as an "attempt to propagate the Sangh Parivar's ideology at public expense". PTI KPK TGB HIG HIG