At the launch of former President Pranab Mukherjee’s book, The Coalition Years, in New Delhi in October 2017, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury said Mukherjee had an “elephant-like memory”, a remark that prompted Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, who was sitting in the audience, to quip he had the memory of "two elephants". The gathering was in splits.
The secret of his ‘elephantine’ memory was not just the daily diary he maintained in his 50-years in public life. Mukherjee diligently wrote a couple of pages to record developments, incidents and meetings. What is not as well-known is that the former president, who passed away on August 31 at the age of 84, had a method.
While this was his daily ritual — along with his morning walk of 30 rounds of the lawn in his bungalow and the hour-long morning puja, the highlight of which was the chandi-path, which he could recite by heart — Mukherjee never recorded a day’s events that day itself.
He would mull over the events for two days before recording it for posterity. He believed this helped in giving a certain detachment to his analysis, provided it depth as well as imprinting it in his memory. These diaries are sure to become a treasure trove for scholars to study contemporary Indian political history.
To his journalist friends, he would regale them with stories in addas; when he was the principal crisis manager of the UPA1 and UPA2 governments, these addas could last until one in the night. Mukherjee could also be short tempered with them when he believed they have asked a question without doing their homework, or were stepping out of line.
At the height of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack crisis, Mukherjee would daily brief the press as he stepped out of his office at the Ministry of External Affairs in South Block late in the evening, at times after 20-hour-long workdays. Once, when a young journalist, barely in her mid-twenties, repeatedly beseeched him with a “Pranab da” to reply to her questions, Mukherjee shot back, “How can I be your dada (elder brother)”, suggesting that he was more her grandfather’s age. Nevertheless, he proceeded to answer all her questions.
Even after Mukherjee demitted the President’s office in mid-2017, industrialists, journalists and, of course, politicians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, would often seek audience with him at his 10, Rajaji Marg bungalow to seek his guidance and blessings. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called frequently from Dhaka.
Mukherjee was moved enough to mark a tilak on the forehead of Rahul Gandhi when he came visiting for the first time at 10, Rajaji Marg, giving him his blessings for the forthcoming poll campaigns. The former President later told his aides that he liked his discussion on Hindu philosophy with the younger leader, who is a devotee of Lord Shiva.
Some of the more interesting meetings, which turned out be controversial later, were with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat. The RSS chief had called on Mukherjee twice at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. However, the two more crucial meetings, where Mukherjee was convinced to visit the RSS headquarters at Nagpur and address the gathering in 2018, took place at 10, Rajaji Marg.
These meetings helped Mukherjee and Bhagwat develop mutual respect for each other. Bhagwat came to admire Mukherjee’s knowledge of Indian history and his understanding of the Hindu social reform that began in Bengal in the 19th Century.
Once in Parliament, during Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance years, Mukherjee found himself embroiled in a discussion on the drinking habits of Hindu gods and goddesses. As the MPs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) protested, Mukherjee recited from shlokas in Sanskrit, with their English translation, underlining his point and leaving the MPs struggling to match his erudition.
Mukherjee had an equally close friendship with BJP’s LK Advani. The two families would frequently meet for lunches. When Mukherjee moved to Rashtrapati Bhavan, the two drew closer as they had shared interests in books and often enjoyed the music recitals at the President’s House.
A Brahmin, Mukherjee, however, was not a ‘traditionalist Hindu’, and had flirted with Marxism as well, particularly during his years in the Bangla Congress, which was part of the United Front government in West Bengal in 1969. This is where he had struck lifelong friendship with former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, who treated him like his son.
It was this proximity with Left leaders that helped Mukherjee steer the ship of the first United Progressive Alliance (UPA1) government. The Left parties gave outside support to the Manmohan Singh government. A steering committee was constituted to discuss policies and programmes of the government, and to the chagrin of several non-Bengali members of the committee, Mukherjee and Left leaders, most of them from Bengal, would go on sharing jokes and anecdotes in the language.
Mukherjee was not only the last of the stalwarts of the Indira Gandhi era, but also a rare politician in a party of public school educated leaders, who had studied in a village school, and his English pronunciation was made fun of endlessly. When former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi once asked him to hire an English tutor, Mukherjee told her there is no point trying to square a zero, and that he will have to carry the baggage of his background wherever he goes.
Mukherjee had friends across party lines, and he was a firm believer in dialogue. When some in the Congress objected to his visiting the RSS headquarters, he told them that the Congress, at least since Mahatma Gandhi, does not believe in “politics of untouchability” and that “acceptance is not endorsement”.
While many in the Congress have now taken to blame him for the party’s loss in 2014, as he did not handle the Anna Hazare-led campaign with an iron hand, Mukherjee was of the firm view that the downfall of that government was caused as much by the party’s “inflexibility” after he had moved to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Mukherjee would point out that he shifted to the Rashtrapati Bhavan in July 2012, and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee quit the government in October, as the Congress thought its 200 seats were equal to 280 seats.
Archis Mohan is a Delhi-based senior journalist. Views are personal.
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