Pranab Mukherjee: Former President of India, Prime Minister Manqué, Indira Gandhi’s Loyalist, Statecraft’s Catalyst
Born on 11 December 1935 at Mirati village in Birbhum district of West Bengal, India
Pranabh Mukherjee was a politician, Congress party’s and its governments’ trouble shooter, chronicler of India’s governance and political machinations, died on 31 August in New Delhi, aged 84. He had tested positive for coronavirus and had been in coma after a brain surgery.
In Public (Political) Life, Public Service:
For almost five decades, 1969 to 2017, Pranab Mukherjee was the leading politician in the political affairs of India. He was fondly known as Pranab Da to his colleagues, an honorific suffix of respect and regard; and as ‘dada’, elder brother, to his followers, and admirers.
He began his political career as a representative of the Congress party (Indian National Congress) in the Upper House (Rajya Sabha) of the Indian Parliament in 1969 — he was inspired by his father’s involvement in the national movement for political independence from the British colonial rule — when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister.
Since then, he was a fulltime politician, and held almost all the key portfolios as the Union Cabinet Minister whenever the Congress party was in power. The only position that eluded him was the Prime Ministership, but he went on to become the 13th President of India from 2012 to 2017.
Chronicler of Political Affairs:
Pranab Mukherjee’s memoirs are The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years, The Turbulent Years: 1980–96, and The Coalition Years: 1996–2012 and author of many other books.
He was a compulsive diarist: wrote a page a day. He had revealed that he did not disclose some sensitive matters pertaining to India in his memoirs for they were classified and some were secrets. The diaries are in the legal custody of his daughter, who could digitise them if the need arises.
He was known in the national political circles for keeping secrets of the party, and what other politicians revealed to him. A political observer remarked what came out of Pranab Da was only the aroma of tobacco when he smoked the pipe.
An Indelible Mark in Post-Independent India:
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on 31 August: “India grieves the passing away of Bharat Ratna Shri Pranab Mukherjee. He has left an indelible mark on the development trajectory of our nation. A scholar par excellence, a towering statesman, he was admired across the political spectrum and by all sections of society.”
India’s Devout Public Servant:
The former US Vice President Joe Biden and 2020 candidate for Presidency tweeted on 1 September: “President Shri Pranab Mukherjee was a devout public servant who believed deeply in the importance of our two nations tackling global challenges together. Jill and I are saddened to hear of his passing — our prayers go out to his loved ones and the Indian people.”
13, Talkatora Road:
The Congress party was voted out to rule India in three successive General Elections: 1996, 1998, and 1999. I started my career as a television reporter at the end of end of 1997 with Etv in New Delhi. It predominantly entailed to collect a soundbite that was politically newsworthy for the day. Sometimes I used to visit Pranah Mukherjee’s residence along with a cameraman and sometimes with fellow soundbite journalists.
As an MP and former Union Cabinet Minister, he used to reside at bungalow 13 on Talkatora Road in Lutyen’s Delhi.
Unlike other politicians across the political parties, it was not easy to get a soundbite from Pranab Da. He found the questions posed by television journalists without decorum, too forthright and utterly brash.
But the landscape of news reporting for television channels was changing in the late 1990s: news quickly sourced and quickly delivered to the audience as it unfolded. It was also the era of escalation of soundbite journalism for broadcasts in news bulletins. It was the time I struggled to grasp the decision-making nodes in the Congress party, who influenced whom, and how. An aspect of mentoring and dressing-down from our bureau chief, VVP Sharma, was that we should ‘understand the Congress party and cultivate sources’.
The Congress party has a chequered history, 1885, but its dominance in steering independent India in the late 20th century was waning. Moreover, it has firmly established as a dynastic party: Gandhi-Nehru family. To comprehend its workings was relatively feasible but to cultivate sources was a Herculean task. Because cultivating news sources demanded copious amount of time, and for a television reporter, time on duty was scarce unlike the newspaper reporters. What I learned on my on-duty visits to 13, Talkatora Road were:
Firstly, it was difficult to reach him for a formal interview unless the journalist was acquainted with him, and I was not. Bengali heritage or Bengali ancestry or Bengali language helped a journalist in New Delhi; I had none of those except for the patience to wait in his office and the perseverance to get a soundbite of newsworthiness for the main bulletin of the day.
Secondly, he did not like to answer questions posed by soundbite journalists. The standard practice for television reporters was (is) to ask a question when a politician was stepping in or stepping out of his or her house, car, and office.
Armed with cameramen (there was only one camerawoman at the time), television journalists usually thrust a gun mike at a politician (whether one is revered or respected or feared) and ask a question. If the need was to shout to put the question across, one would shout. Whatever the politician would say to the question, there would be some news depending upon the political developments during the course of the day, or a hint towards the subject of the moment.
Sometimes we used to wait for hours to talk to him on camera or off camera; it was hard to get a yes from him, and the conduit of communications was his office secretary.
General Elections 1998: BJP emerged as the single largest party in the elections like it did in the General Elections of 1996. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister who led a coalition of disparate political parties, and AIADMK from Tamil Nadu was one of them.
What if, if AIADMK withdrew support to the Vajpayee government? If that was the case, will the Congress party form the government with the support of other political parties for it was the second largest political party after the BJP? If that was the case, who would be the prime ministerial candidate of the Congress? And Pranab Da’s name, too, was in the political predictions and guesses. As expected, AIADMK withdrew support to the Vajpayee government and it lost its majority in the Lok Sabha and had to call for another General Election (1999). One of the reasons was that the Congress party under Sonia Gandhi opted to not to explore ways to from the government. (In the General Elections of 1999, the BJP under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee gained a larger presence in the Lok Sabha, and formed a relatively stable government from 1999–2004 but with the support of other political parties.)
Thirdly, occasionally Pranab Da would give a formal interview for soundbite journalists, when he had found out that we had waited for too long in the outhouse of his bungalow that served as an office for his staff.
Once I saw few boxes of mangoes delivered, radiating summer, and I asked the staff, who sent it? He looked around and cooed, “Ambani.”
On one occasion, I got an opportunity to interview him in his office. On one of the walls among the many framed photos, the conspicuous one was Indira Gandhi’s. In one photograph, Pranab Da was addressing at an AICC session while Indira Gandhi was watching him in admiration (of his political sagacity, political loyalty). And I noticed a book written by his wife Suvra Mukherjee titled Indira Gandhi in My Eyes. The office radiated with cues for the couple’s allegiance to Indira Gandhi, not Rajiv Gandhi, and his successors.
On another occasion over informal interaction with journalists (without cameras), I saw him lighting the pipe. It was the first time I saw someone smoking tobacco in a pipe. When he smoked the pipe, it was an indication, he was relaxed.
Striking a match stick after match stick taken out from the match box, he would light the tobacco, and release some words that hinted at unravelling political developments within the party among others. And, he would smile rarely. When he smiled, it was a Duchenne smile.
Finally, I reported about the Congress party as it was my beat for some time and had cultivated some sources. But when I needed some irrefutable information from Pranab Da or his office, I had to rely on my senior colleague and mentor Bikash C Paul.
Bikash had unhindered access to Pranab Da for the former was not only a Bengali-speaking journalist but he knew him as a business journalist since 1990s. They shared that unique trust that exists between a journalist and politician.
In the space where journalism and politics intersect, trust between journalist and politician develops, grows, tests, and survives over a period of time; it is not instant: you trust me, I trust me.
Finance Minister of India: 1982–1984
Pranab Mukherjee was politically groomed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and he responded to her with his loyalty and sincerity (important traits for a politician who is not directly elected by voters to legislatures).
After becoming an MP in 1969, his rise was rapid in the 1970s. Indira Gandhi made him a junior minister with portfolios of industry, shipping and transport, steel, industry, and finance (1973–74).
It was in 1982, he became a Cabinet minister, Finance Minister of India. He was also the leader of Rajya Sabha, 1980 to 1985 (Indira Gandhi was assassinated on 31 October 1984).
India is a mixed economy. I gather Pranab Mukherjee attempted to focus on socialistic obligations of the Indian state, Nehruvian economics, and the status quo of licence raj when he was the Finance Minister (1982–1984) under Indira Gandhi. I am unaware why he could not do what Manmohan Singh did as the Finance Minister during 1991–1996: liberalization of the economy, and economic reforms.
The departure of Indira Gandhi was the biggest loss for Pranab Da. He writes in his memoirs:
“Tears started rolling down my face, and I wept inconsolably, managing to compose myself only after some time and with great effort.”
Following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, he was side-lined by her son Rajiv Gandhi.
Political and Electoral Reality: 1986–1989
Rajiv Gandhi, as the Prime Minister and the president of the Congress party, did not give prominence to Pranab Mukherjee. The reasons were: Pranab Da aspired to become the Prime Minister of India after Indira Gandhi for he saw himself as the rightful successor, senior-most in the party to hold the highest position, and was opposed to the dynastic nature of the transition. (He dismissed those allegations and described them as the work of his enemies in the party who poisoned the mind of Rajiv Gandhi about him).
Realising his diminished importance in the part under Rajiv Gandhi, he quitted the Congress and started a political party named Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress in his home state of West Bengal in 1986. In next three years, he realised he was neither a mass leader nor had the electoral charisma.
In 1989, he reconciled with Rajiv Gandhi and merged his party with the Congress party. The Congress welcomed him to the top leadership (decision-making bodies), and he remained a Nehru-Gandhi loyalist until he became the President of India.
After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi at the time of General Elections 1991, the Congress party formed the government led by non-Nehru-Gandhi family member PV Narasimha Rao.
Pranab Da was back in the governance: Prime Minister Rao made him the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission (1991 to 1996), Minister for Commerce (1993 to 1995), Minister of External Affairs (1995 to 1996).
During the late 1990s and 2000s, he was the guiding force in the party for Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi but they were not like Indira Gandhi. They would not trust him with the position of Prime Minister perhaps he was too autonomous.
In 2004, the Congress party could have chosen him as the Prime Minister in the place of Manmohan Singh, but it was the other way.
Untainted Politician:
The significance of Pranab Mukherjee’s life in public service was that he was untouched with accusations of corruption and scandals, and never erred and gaffed in the positions he held. (During the UPA II regime, India’s Foreign Minister S M Krishna inadvertently read Portuguese statement at the UN causing embarrassment to his party and the Indian government.) He performed his roles impeccably and to the highest standards in the polity and governance of the country.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had confidence in the administrative and political skills in Pranab Da. He shuffled him among the portfolios of defence, finance and foreign (external) affairs as the need arose during 2004–2012.
From 2004 onwards, he was the number two in the cabinet of the Manmohan Singh’s government and had the attention of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi who steered the Congress party. He was Minister of Defence from 2004 to 2006, Minister of External Affairs from 2006 to 2009, and Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2012, and Leader of the Lower House (Lok Sabha) of Parliament from 2004 to 2012 till he resigned to contest election to the office of the President.
The Indian rupee sign (₹), designed by Udaya Kumar, was presented to the country when he was heading the finance ministry. The design was selected through an ‘open’ competition among the Indian residents. The Devanagiri letter ‘र’ (ra) with a double horizontal line at the top is an amalgamation of Latin uppercase R, and the r rotunda (Ꝛ).
The party may have not felt his absence after he had moved to hold the highest constitutional position of the Indian Republic, President of India in 2012. But the Congress party started to blunder.
At Rashtrapati Bhavan:
As the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee made Rashtrapati Bhavan (the Presidential Palace), which is the official residence, accessible to people. It was the official residence of the Indian Viceory during British Raj, until 15 August 1947.
During his tenure as the President of India, he gave audience to people in different walks of life. He was considerate to requests to attend functions that were organised far away from the national capital of India.
One of the biggest decisions taken by the Congress party in 2014 was to bifurcate the united state of Andhra Pradesh into two: Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Indira Gandhi as the Prime Minister did not consent to that decision in the 1970s but the latter-years’ Gandhis could not comprehend the political realities on the ground and the electoral exigencies of different states of India.
At this time, the last Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, approached the President to prevail upon the government or on the party to stop the bifurcation of the state. I was working for the Chief Minister’s office as the media advisor tasked with roles of PR, Press and Communications. I gathered that he was not in agreement with the decision of bifurcation of one Telugu-speaking state (Andhra Pradesh) into two Telugu-speaking states (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana).
With his vast experience, he comprehended Mother India unlike many of his colleagues within the party. When he was the Union Cabinet Minister in the UPA I and UPA II under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he had made it clear to the Congress party not to bifurcate the state. He had reminded the stance taken by Indira Gandhi, and interestingly, he headed the government committee on whether to divide the state, or not.
However as the President of India, he signed the formation of Telangana State Bill to become an Act. For it was too late, and he was no more in the Congress party but the President of India. Yet, he gave an audience to a delegation led by N. Kiran Kumar Reddy. (In the subsequent elections, both to the Lok Sabha and State legislatures in 2014, the Congress party was wiped out completely in Andhra Pradesh, and in Telangana it had become a party in Opposition).
The role of Indian President may be largely ceremonial as the head of the state: no executive powers but acts on the advice of council of ministers. The role is similar to the constitutional monarchies in European countries such as Netherlands, Span and the UK but more similar to the president’s role in Germany and Israel.
Indian President is not just a rubber-stamp because there is a subtle space, how one reads the situation and the Constitution of India, for taking independent decisions. Moreover, the President of India has the power to ask the Government of India to reconsider an action or decision based on the public opinion, or his or her understanding of that action or decision in the interest of the Indian citizenry.
The Hans India & HMTV:
Hyderabad Media House and the Kapil Group is the owner of HM TV and The Hans India newspaper. I started to work for The Hans India as its special correspondent and bureau chief in New Delhi from 1 January 2015 under the editorship of Professor K. Nageshwar (who insisted me to file news reports with the source in the first or second sentence, or in the first paragraph: an editor who also taught journalism).
A journalist working for HM TV, Srikanth Aluri, who is now with The Times of India, reminded me about my predecessor Anita Saluja, who was acquainted with Pranab Da before he became the President of India.
Anita Saluja was the resident editor of The Hans India, and she had requested Pranab Da to deliver a memorial lecture on late Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao organised by the newspaper’s media house. He obliged her to travel to Hyderabad and give memorial lecture in remembrance of his former colleague. At the memorial lecture, Pranabh Mukherjee said:
“Shri Rao was a leader who inspired many. I too am one of them. I had the opportunity to work with Shri Rao for many years and was impressed by his political sagacity, his depth of comprehension of complex issues and his steely resolve to find solutions to even the most intractable of them.”
What Pranab Mukherjee shared with Narasimha Rao was the political sagacity and the depth of comprehension of complex issues, and those were reflected when he was the Cabinet Minister in the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government.
Pranab Da started his working life as a college teacher and journalist (Desher Dak: Call for Motherland) after completing Master’s in History and Political Science and a degree in Law from the University of Kolkata. Because he had also worked as journalist, he understood the role of journalists in public service, and the rigours of practising journalism in India. He showed empathy for journalists by being considerate especially who touched his journey.
Indian Parliament: Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha
Pranab Mukherjee was elected as a member of the Upper House of the Parliament (Rajya Sabha) in 1969. He was re-elected to it in 1975, 1981, 1993, and 1999.
In 2004, for the first time in his political life, he contested on a Congress party ticket to the Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Indian Parliament) from Jangipur in Murshidabad district in West Bengal, and won. Again in 2009, he won. He was fondly known and remembered in Murshidabad as Pranab Babu (Babu is also an honorific term of affection and admiration).
Simplicity: Pranab Da was an everyday walker, and in his spare time, he did gardening and listened to music. Possibly, the simplicity evolved from his interactions, readings and travels. A Government of India’s website notes: ‘There are few parts of India and few countries in the world he has not visited in his illustrious and long public career.’
Bharat Ratna:
Ironically, India, under the BJP-led government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has honoured Pranab Mukherjee, who was all along a Congress party member, with the Indian Republic’s highest civilian award in 2019: Bharat Ratna: Jewel of India!
