New Delhi: Launching Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Manmohan Vaidya's new book on Friday (November 21), Jagdeep Dhankhar in his first public address after abruptly quitting as vice president in July made oblique references to his resignation and endorsed various Hindu nationalist talking points.

Speaking at Bhopal's Ravindra Bhavan during the launch of Vaidya's book Hum Aur Ye Vishva, which appears to be the Hindi version of his earlier We and the World Around, Dhankhar referred to his public absence at the very outset.

“While speaking after four months, on this occasion, on this book and in this city, I should not be hesitant,” the 74-year-old said, prompting cheers from the audience.

Calling Vaidya's book “eye-opening”, Dhankhar said it has come “at the most opportune time” of the centenary celebrations of the Sangh, which he described as “the most stabilising force in Bharat … and for global welfare”.

After speaking about the threats posed by ‘expansionist state policies’, “economic challenges”, “climate change” and, purportedly, “demographic variations linked to the grabbing of power”, the former vice president cracked a cryptic joke about becoming embroiled in “narratives”.

“God forbid that one gets trapped in the affair of narratives. It is very difficult to escape if one becomes stuck in this trap. I am not giving my own example,” he said to laughter.

When a young man approached him at his podium, apparently to notify him of an impending flight, Dhankhar told the audience: “I can't abandon my duty out of the worry of missing my flight. And friends, my recent past is proof of it,” again drawing enthusiasm.

Later, the former Rajya Sabha chairman while criticising protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 said that we are living in “tough times”. “No one knows more than I do. Am I right?” he asked, although he did not elaborate.

Mystery continues to shroud Dhankhar's resignation, which he unexpectedly submitted to President Droupadi Murmu on July 21 on stated grounds of ill health, even as he had chaired Rajya Sabha proceedings earlier that day and given no advance indication of his move.

It was only on the afternoon of July 22 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly acknowledged Dhankhar's resignation, noting in a terse X post that the vice president had “got many opportunities to serve our country in various capacities”.

Dhankhar made his next public appearance only on September 12 when he attended the oath-taking ceremony of his successor C.P. Radhakrishnan.

During his speech on Friday Dhankhar invoked Hindutva talking points on various occasions.

Having decided to speak in a mix of Hindi and English – he said he chose the latter because naysayers would not correctly understand him unless he spoke “in their special language” – he said that Vaidya's book busts the “myth” that the RSS is “anti-minority”.

“This eye-opening book … dismantles long-propagated, continually propagated, in a structured manner, myths portraying the RSS as ultra-right and anti-minority. And they go to the extent of linking it even to the assassination of Gandhi. The untenability of all these is now fully exposed [sic],” Dhankhar said.

He also said that “our civilisation” has endured the “two grave attacks” by “Islamic and British colonialism”.

“Time for us all to reflect. It is a matter of worry and concern. How many attacks have happened – two grim ones, Islamic and British colonialism – why did we survive? Why did we persevere? The civilisations that were there alongside us, I don't need to take their names, where did they go? We exist even today,” said Dhankhar.

“What is the source of this spirituality? Where are its roots? What is the ground reality? This spiritually anchored system: sanatan, eternal yet continually renewing, reflects the unique capability of our civilisation to reinvent itself while preserving its fundamental essence,” he went on to claim.

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