‘PM Modi Only PM After Indira to Feel People's Pulse Acutely & Accurately,’ thought Late Pranab Mukherjee

Pranab Mukherjee, the late President and a veteran Congress leader, felt that “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the only PM after Indira Gandhi who has the ability to feel the pulse of the people so acutely and accurately", according to his daughter Sharmistha.

Sharmistha, who has put together her interactions with her father and his diary entries in a book, ‘Pranab, My Father: A Daughter Remembers’, mentions Mukherjee’s diary entry dated October 23, 2014. “PM’s decision to spend Diwali with jawans at Siachen and flood-affected people at Srinagar speaks of his political sense which was not visible in any other PM, except Indira Gandhi."

‘NOT MR. KNOW ALL, MODI WANTS TO LEARN’

The book illustrates Mukherjee’s good equation with PM Modi, mentioning the many “addas" he had with him.

Another diary entry states: “We had discussions on various issues. He told me that he valued my advice and I told him he will get my full cooperation. It is quite clear that –

1. He has clarity in his thought and has a professional approach to statecraft
2. He feels the pulse of the people very strongly
3. He wants learn and does not pretend that he is ‘Mr. Know All’
4. As a hardcore RSS man, he is fiercely patriotic and nationalist."

MUKHERJEE & THE GANDHIS

Mukherjee had the experience of working with many prime ministers and several generations of the Gandhi family — from Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi to Sonia Gandhi and finally Rahul Gandhi. Mukherjee served as India’s finance minister and subsequently became minister for External Affairs, Defence, Finance and Commerce. He was India’s 13th president (2012 to 2017). He died on August 31, 2020 at the age of 84.

In a long condolence thread on X for Mukherjee, PM Modi wrote: “I was new to Delhi in 2014. From Day 1, I was blessed to have the guidance, support and blessings of Shri Pranab Mukherjee. I will always cherish my interactions with him. Condolences to his family, friends, admirers and supporters across India. Om Shanti."

The book makes it clear that he had an uneasy relation with Rajiv Gandhi. It also explains that the Congress veteran was not impressed with the political side of Rahul Gandhi. Mukherjee described him as “courteous and full of questions but not yet politically mature". He also thought that Rahul Gandhi’s tearing of the ordinance publicly while Dr Manmohan Singh was abroad was the “final nail in the coffin of the UPA".

In his diary, Mukherjee wrote: “He has all the arrogance of his Gandhi-Nehru lineage without their political acumen."

According to Mukherjee, this was also one reason why UPA lost in 2014. He asked why anyone would vote for a government where the prime minister was not respected.

ON SONIA’s SACRIFICE

As the president of the single largest party Congress to win the Lok Sabha elections in 2004, Sonia Gandhi was tipped to be the prime minister and had the full support of the coalition partners. But she renounced her claim to be the prime minister – a decision that took the nation, including her own party colleagues and coalition partners, by surprise.

Sharmistha mentions that though at that time, her father didn’t write anything more, on December 31, while recounting major events of the year, he wrote, “Most surprising was the amazing sacrifice of Sonia Gandhi by refusing to accept the Prime Ministership of the country despite pressure from within the party and outside. Her decision saved the country from a bitter confrontation between BJP and Congress."

She also writes that her father felt Sonia Gandhi was “intelligent, hardworking and keen to learn. Once he told me that unlike many political leaders, her biggest strength was that she knew and recognized her weaknesses and was willing to work hard to overcome them. She knew that she lacked political experience but worked hard to understand the complexities of Indian politics and society".

THE PM-IN-WAITING FOREVER

In the book, the former Congress spokesperson who quit politics in 2021, also says that Mukherjee did not have any rancour against Sonia Gandhi for not making him the prime minister, and definitely not against the man chosen – Manmohan Singh.

“No, she will not make me the PM," was Pranab Mukherjee’s cryptic response in a reference to Sonia Gandhi when he was asked by Sharmistha about his chances of becoming the prime minister in 2004.

“If there’s no expectation, there’s no disappointment as well," the Rupa Publications’ book, which will be launched on Mukherjee’s birth anniversary on December 11, says. “It is generally believed that Pranab had a chance to become the PM earlier in 1984 as well, after Indira Gandhi’s assassination, and not just in 2004," it adds.

Sharmistha says that people often asked her whether her father actually harboured the ambition to become the prime minister and she posed this question to him during the UPA-I era. “Of course, I would like to be the prime minister. Any politician worth his salt has this ambition. But just because I want it does not necessarily mean I am going to get it," was his response, she writes.

With PTI Inputs