Pranab Mukherjee at RSS Meet: Secularism, inclusion matter of faith for us

Former President Pranab Mukherjee addressed RSS event at Nagpur, in which he said, 'patriotism and nationalism go together'

India’s national identity has taken shape after the confluence and the assimilation of multiple cultures that have created a tolerant society, former President Pranab Mukherjee said at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)’s headquarters in Nagpur on Thursday.

On a closely watched visit that irked his Congress party, Mukherjee, who was India’s President from 2012 to 2017, said pluralism, a common history and the celebration of diversity make the country special.

Any attempt at defining our nationhood with religion, region, hatred and intolerance will only dilute our identity, Mukherjee said at a function of the RSS’s third-year officers’ training camp, discussing