'A Great Statesmanship Throughout...': Memoir Of Pranab Mukherjee

The village Mirati in the district of Birbhum of West Bengal would possibly have remained unheard of, had it not been the birthplace of ‘Bharat Ratna’ Pranab Mukherjee, the thirteenth President of the country who completed the five-year term from 2012 to 2017. In his own memoir, he detailed his struggles in walking several miles to reach his school, particularly the difficulties he faced in crossing the muddy paddy fields during the monsoons. Later in life, he went on to witness what the country had in store for him, from the different platforms in the ministry and governance to the Raisina Hills. His modest background couldn’t stop him from interacting at ease with world leaders like Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping at a later stage. But one thing that even his political opponents would admit about him was that he remained humble throughout, never forgetting his origin.

Did not he have political opponents to face who spent his lifetime in mainstream politics? During his days in the state Congress party, it is learnt that he did not have a good equation with his own party-man, A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury, which may be construed to be an exception in his power struggle within the party. But it is noteworthy to mention that he practically could win over political stalwarts even from the opponent political parties. It spans from Jyoti Basu, the noted communist leader and longest-serving Chief Minister of West Bengal to Narendra Modi, the present Prime Minister of the country. On the other hand, he could even earn respect from his peers in his mother party, starting from P.V. Narasimha Rao to Manmohan Singh, who could well have been his tough competitors or critics! But Narasimha Rao appointed him as the Deputy Chairman of, the Planning Commission in 1991 immediately after taking charge as the Prime Minister at a time when he was not even elected in either house of the Parliament.

During Manmohan Singh’s tenure, he was the undeclared second man in the cabinet. It is also widely heard that he fell apart from the so-called Gandhi clout long back in 1984 after his claim of becoming Prime Minister following the event of the assassination of Indira Gandhi. The rift with Rajiv Gandhi resulted in his expulsion from Congress after which he also formed his new political party in the name of Rashtriya Samajbadi Congress. Although such separation from Congress did not last long, the same defiance could have been borne by Sonia Gandhi in mind too, while selecting the Prime Minister as the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) assuming power at the centre in 2004. Later, however, he explained his stand that he just answered the query of the then Congress leaders as to how in a similar situation, Gulzarilal Nanda, being the senior most leader of the party, succeeded Nehru. However, many political analysts were of the opinion that he should have been declared the Prime Minister to head the UPA government in 2004. Even Manmohan Singh wrote that later. But that did not make him go against the UPA chairperson in public at any time. Rather he remained very effective in the government all along before he was announced as the presidential candidate by the latter in July 2012. This may be construed to be a reward for his political maturity as well as vast experience in different ministerial positions.

Being a master’s degree holder in political science and history, and also a law graduate, one may wonder as to how he could gather knowledge in economics, public policy, foreign policy, trade and commerce. As heard from his close relatives, he always remained a voracious reader; during his early days, he reportedly bought a handy booklet from a hawker once while travelling in the local suburban train to make the best use of his time by reading.

He himself mentioned later in a number of interviews that his favourite pastime was reading books. Sitaram Kesri, the former president of the Congress party, who earlier held treasurership of the party for a very long time, hailed Pranab Mukherjee’s quality as a draft maker of resolutions. His writing skills made him an asset in his political party. His political maturity has also attracted many contemporary politicians and those joining later in politics. While contesting as President he faced opposition from Mamata Banerjee due to her differences with Congress. This even divided a few Members of Parliament from Banerjee’s party like Kabir Suman, who openly declared that he would vote for Pranab Mukherjee. But later when as Chief Minister of West Bengal, Banerjee attended the swearing-in ceremony at Delhi after his election and reportedly called him by his name, “Pranabda”, he was receptive and cordial to her not even necessarily sticking to the protocol.

In an era when shifting loyalty has become the order of the day for getting importance in political life, Pranab Mukherjee displayed unflinching loyalty to his mentor, Indira Gandhi during the latter’s crisis following her defeat in election after the infamous emergency. It is also widely known how religiously he followed all rituals as a priest during Durga Puja at his ancestral home even as the President of India! He never minded about making his identity clear as a Hindu Brahmin. But at the same time, he also upheld India’s pluralism in his address as a Congress leader or later as the President of the country. In June 2018, Mukherjee became the first former president of the country to address a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) event at Nagpur and mentioned its founder Dr. Hedgewar as the “great son of Mother India”. This not only resulted in much furore among his former party colleagues but also within his family. However, Pranab Mukherjee did not succumb to any pressure from any corner and remained defiant to turn out to be a true statesman.

Hence, on the third death anniversary on August 31, this year, it has to be admitted that Pranab Mukherjee displayed great statesmanship all throughout his political career which can be followed by politicians of his generations in succession.

(Dr Arindam Gupta is a Professor of Commerce at the Vidyasagar University, West Bengal)