Pranab Mukherjee has passed into history. A class by himself, highly dignified in his style and reserved in his demeanour, Pranab Mukherjee leaves behind a legacy that is unparalleled. A political science professor-turned politician who straddled the fields of governance and parliamentary functioning for half a century, must be recognized and hailed for the impressive image he maintained.
While many politicians made huge wealth in these decades, Mukherjee did not seem to have a craze or greed for money. He was known often as Ambani’s man for the way he perhaps helped the business group grow since the 1980s into a behemoth via governmental favours. His actions as minister could have likely been influenced more by party interests and dictates, as the Ambanis are known for dealing directly with the top leadership; including Indira Gandhi in those times.
Pranab Mukherjee who started in politics and parliament as a member of the Bangla Congress, joined the Congress Party in the early 1970s when the regional entity merged with the national party. Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister recognized the potential in him for being a parliamentarian with abundant substance and brought him into her ministry soon enough. Except for a brief period of alienation from the Congress, when he was famously sidelined by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, he remained a staunch Congressman. He was, since the 1990s, the main trouble-shooter for the Congress governments as also for the party, irrespective of the position or department he held.
A well-groomed administrator who handled most of the important portfolios in his many innings in government as minister since the 1970s, he was justified in aspiring to be Prime Minister but missed the bus repeatedly. His strengths were perhaps his disadvantage. Weighing more on the intellectual side, Pranab Mukherjee was not a mass leader and largely kept to himself. He more than compensated for this aloofness by his great grasp of subjects and intellectual prowess. A consolation was that he was made President for a term and acquitted himself well in this job, going by the rule book in every decision he made or file he signed. He avoided the temptations of playing politics from the exalted office at Rashtrapati Bhavan. He judged every matter on merit. That too was his greatness.
In an age when dignity is a dying virtue in politics, Pranab Mukherjee was its epitome. The Bharat Ratna that the NDA government bestowed on him a year ago was a fitting tribute to a leader who cared for the welfare of the nation and its people all his life. It is well known that Prime Minister Narendra Modi took advice from him often on matters of governance. His exit creates a deep vacuum in the nation’s top (yet informal) leadership.