New Delhi:Former President Pranab Mukherjee decided to attend the RashtriyaSwayamsevakSangh(RSS) event in Nagpur after Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat personally invited him. Mukherjee as a Presidentinvited Bhagwat twice and the RSS chief accepted both times. This time, he possibly felt that the gesture should be reciprocated, one of his associates said, asking not to be identified.

“Apart from Bhagwat meeting Mukherjee at RashtrapatiBhavan, two senior RSS functionaries from Nagpur went all the way to Miriti in West Bengal’s Birbhum district to celebrate Durga puja with him in 2016,” added another associate on condition of anonymity.

A person familiar with Mukherjee’s plans maintained that the critics should wait and listen to Mukherjee’s speech on June 7. “He is likely to send a strong message of peace, brotherhood and harmony from the platform of the RSS. His message will definitely show Mukherjee’s mettle,” the person said, asking not to be identified.

Most political parties, be it the Congress or the CPI(M), have maintained a silence on the issue, dubbing it as a personal choice of the former President, who is now, by all counts, a private citizen. But that didn’t stop several Opposition MPs from either slamming his move or appealing Mukherjee to reconsider his decision.

Former finance minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday that he would have never accepted such an invitation and urged Mukherjee to talk about the flaws in the RSS ideology in Nagpur. “He has achieved tremendous fame, power and positions in politics. The only substantial thing for him to achieve is Bharat Ratna,” quipped an Opposition leader.

Another senior leader, referring to the recent elections in Malaysia in which 92 year-old Mahathir Bin Mohammad reclaimed power, said, “Mahathir has reinvigorated many Indian political lives.”