AAP leader criticises Bharat Ratna for Pranab Mukherjee

NEW DELHI: The announcement of the Bharat Ratna being awarded to former president Pranab Mukherjee has been greeted with approval as well as criticism. A senior leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, Sanjay Singh, criticized the government’s decision to confer the country’s highest civilian honour on Mukherjee, even citing the former president’s links to an industrial house.

In a tweet, Singh said that Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, Ram Manohar Lohia did not get the honour, but Mukherjee, who took part in an event at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters in Nagpur last year, had been chosen.

“The RSS, which has always worked to break the nation; Pranab Mukherjee attended their program, and praised (RSS founder) Hedgewar,” the Rajya Sabha MP stated.

He claimed that the late Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Nanaji Deshmukh and the late singer Bhupen Hazarika, the other recipients of the Bharat Ratna this year, had links with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the RSS, while freedom fighters had not been accorded the honour.

Adding to Singh’s comments, Nagendar Sharma, media advisor to Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, said, “Visiting RSS headquarters certainly pays extremely rich dividends in lifetime. Lapdog of Ambanis visiting RSS headquarters is a sure shot formula for achieving anything”.
Janata Dal (Secular) leader Danish Ali on Friday had said Mukherjee was being awarded the Bharat Ratna as he had visited the RSS headquarters in Nagpur.