T’PURAM/NEW DELHI: Shedding its silence over the Governor’s controversial claim that Jawaharlal Nehru had invited RSS workers to be part of the Republic Day parade in 1963, the state Congress on Tuesday demanded that Arif Mohammed Khan should apologise for “the statement based on fake history”.
“The governor should not endorse the blatant lie spread by the RSS. It is not fit for a governor to come out with such false claims. The governor who holds top constitutional post should not stoop to such level, “ state Congress president K Sudhakaran told TNIE.
When contacted, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan chose not to comment on the issue saying he was not aware of what had transpired in 1963.The governor’s claim during Monday’s press conference has put the spotlight once again on the veracity of RSS’ claims that it participated in the 1963 Republic Day parade on an invitation by Nehru, who was impressed with the services of the outfit’s volunteers during the 1962 Indo-China war.
The RSS raises this claim whenever its antecedents are questioned. After a controversy erupted over former president Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to its headquarters in 2018, RSS once again recalled its participation in the 1963 Republic Day parade. However, the defence ministry’s reply to an RTI filed by a publishing house offers no credence to the claims of the Sangh. The ministry said, “It is informed that records relating to the composition of the Republic Day parade 1963 are not available.”
Countering the RTI report, senior RSS leader J Nandakumar told TNIE that RSS’ participation in the parade was a well-documented one and it was published by the newspaper Hindustan at that time. The photographs of the volunteers were also published, he added.
“RTI gives information based on available documents in archives. Even Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s documents are not available. This proof also might have been destroyed, though I am not sure about it. The ruling dispensation, during that time, might have chosen not to preserve some inconvenient truths,” Nandakumar said.
However, senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily told TNIE that RSS is instrumental in polarising the country on communal lines and no claims can give them credibility. “Nehru hasn’t mentioned such a thing in his autobiography. RSS may have participated, but it wouldn’t give them credibility. Maybe at that time, Nehru must have appreciated social work, I am not aware though,” he said.
Ramesh Chennithala, senior Congress leader from Kerala, supports the view. “It’s an old story. The situation was different in 1963. Today, RSS is hell-bent on dividing the country along communal lines,” he said.