SHILLONG: Sharmistha Mukherjee, the daughter of former president Pranab Mukherjee, has ruled out discrimination against her father as she said he was happy as the President.
There were comments from several quarters in the past that Mukherjee was the best person to be the Prime Minister of the country instead of Manmohan Singh.
Speaking to The Shillong Times, Sharmistha said the Prime Minister and the President had excellent equation and there was nothing like that her father wanted to be the Prime Minister or that he was neglected.
“On the other hand, it was the Congress which made my father the President for the country,” Sharmistha said.
Sharmistha, who was in the city for the election campaign, deplored Shillong becoming a concrete jungle.
“It was in 1985 that I first came to Shillong along with my college friends. Shillong known as the Scotland of the East was very charming then. It is still beautiful. But unfortunately the city is slowly turning into a concrete jungle and we need to keep a balance between development and protection of environment,” he said.
Sharmistha, who is single, entered politics only three years ago and now she is the president of Mahila Congress, Delhi.
Art and politics
The Kathak dancer cum choreographer turned politician said, “Some say that to be an artiste is all about heart and has nothing to do with head. Similarly, politics, some say, is all about head and not about heart. But I believe in balancing head and heart both in art and politics. You cannot be a part-time artiste and politician, it is a hardworking job.”
To a query as to how she felt when her father was the President, Sharmistha said neither her mother nor the family interfered in the official position of her father. “I always felt that we were deeply and firmly rooted on the ground,” she said.
Asked about the current political climate, the Congress leader said, “I was born in a political family but it is sad to say there is no civilised debate in Parliament.”
She was also critical of the language the Prime Minister was using while commenting on several issues.
Women’s empowerment
Sharmistha said there is a need to push forward the proposal for 33 percent reservation for women but added that “it is unfortunate that it is yet to come through”.
“The Congress is fighting for women’s empowerment and we even had the first woman speaker,” she said.
She also said the Congress-led government in Meghalaya was successful in maintaining peace and development.
“The Congress government here has done quite a bit of development work. People should vote for peace and stability,” she said.
While Sharmistha’s mother Suvra Mukherjee passed away in 2015, her eldest brother Abhijit Mukherjee is a two-time Member of Parliament from the Jangipur Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal which was represented by her father in the past.
The youngest brother, Indrajit, is an employee in a company.
