President Pranab

Arindam Sarkar

A shrewd brain that is fond of Éclairs toffee, coffee and cartoons! The 14^th President of India Pranab Mukherjee is not a “Magnificent Cipher” at Raisina Hill.

He has comfortably settled down, busy doing the chores of a president, and has also found time to undertake foreign visits and release his first of the three-part autobiography The Dramatic Decade – The Indira Gandhi Years in December 2014.

The man who scripted the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Deal, President Pranab Mukherjee is on a visit to Russia between May 7 and 11, 2015. A practitioner of socialism, he is not blind to the positives of capitalism.

In the summer of 2014, all eye were riveted at Pranab Mukherjee. Because some political pundits believed if there was a hung parliament, then the man to watch, as the game changer, would be the occupant of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. However, the BJP swept the polls and Narendra Modi was sworn in as the prime minister.

Pranab may have served Prime Ministers PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh, but he has never been a neo-liberal. In fact, Nehruvian Economics has guided his policies as finance minister and as a Congress Working Committee member.

Pranab’s first presidential speech gave a glimpse of his thoughts and the men – Swami Vivekananda, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan – who inspired and shaped his personality in his long political career spanning more than four decades.

A workaholic, Pranab today misses his hectic schedule as Union Cabinet minister, Congress trouble-shooter, CWC member and chairman of the Group of Ministers of the UPA-I & UPA-II Governments in the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Pranab also misses the regular small gatherings in the living room of his residence – with unending telephone calls and cups of coffee. It is here, at the end of the day, Pranab shared lively political anecdotes with his friends and guests.

As a politician, Pranab was at his ebullient best while traveling, in a car or on a flight, and when sitting on the divan in his living room with a huge pillow supporting his back.

He is still touchy about his six-year expulsion from the Congress in 1986. Pranab men say it was a conspiracy against him by the Gang of Four – Ashok Sen, ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi and Ajit Panja – who spread the canard that Pranab after Indira Gandhi’s assassination was eyeing the prime ministership.

Nevertheless, it was Pranab’s defense of Rajiv and the Gandhi family, when the Bofors Scam exploded, gradually helped `The Outsider’ to win over the confidence of Rajiv Gandhi. Congressmen say, in the last few years Pranab was one of the most dependable men of AICC president Sonia Gandhi.

Pranab told party men the “inner voice” speech in 2004 after which Sonia declined the prime ministership of UPA-I was her way of telling `no’ to people who questioned her foreign origin. When not in New Delhi, Sonia-Pranab telephone calls on crucial political issues sometimes lasted more than 15 minutes.

Once at a seaside hotel during an election campaign, Sonia’s called. Pranab rushed from the lounge to his suite. But soon he came out and shouted: “Reduce the volume. I can’t hear her”. The roaring sea waves disturbed him and Congressmen did not know how to reduce the ferocious sound of the nature.

Pranab never takes his speeches casually. Whether addressing the crowds in the villages during elections or the pressure groups inside 5-star hotels on Indo-US Civil Nuclear Deal, he always kept it high-stuff – peppered with quotes of eminent personalities.

Once sitting on the front bucket seat of his bulletproof white ambassador – as his convoy travelled a distance of more than 600 km – Pranab gave a non-stop lecture on the history of the Congress, crucial CWC meetings, and prime ministers.

Pranab is that politician who doesn’t fuss much about food and doesn’t ask his companions whether they had eaten. This is largely because Pranab himself is a frugal eater and is known to skip his dinner quite often. A man with a rural bias, taste and habits, Pranab loves his typical Bengali food: rice, beulir dal, alu-posto, postor bora, rui maach and mishthi. (He loves sweets but is off it because of diabetes).

Pranab eats pretty late. He usually has his dinner at around 1.30 am after reading his files, books and taking a shower. A private dinner with Pranab is actually having food alone. He sits with the guest at the dining table with a newspaper and occasionally looks up – until the guest finishes the last spoon of dessert.

Since Pranab doesn’t take hard drinks, no matter how close you are to him, you will end up with hot coffee with biscuits. Soft drink is a luxury and rarely served. In 1983, during an official dinner thrown at Moscow, after the toast Pranab found he was a little tizzy.

Laughing at her finance minister, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi told him she had mischievously mixed little vodka with his soft drink. That was Pranab’s first and last hard drink of his life.

Congressmen say its is his tolerance and patience that has helped him to finally make it to the Raisina Hill and be there without any controversy. Pranab’s detractors in the Congress say he is at best the “head clerk or munim ji of the party”. His supporters say he is “a walking encyclopedia and a Gandhi family loyalist” who is the best prime minister, India never had.

In fact, twice Pranab came close to becoming a prime minister, but 7 Race Course Road eluded him. When Sonia refused to be the PM, Pranab’s supporters thought he was the best choice. Again, when Manmohan Singh went for cardiac surgery, Pranab’s name did the rounds as a replacement for an ailing prime minister. But it seems 10 Janpath had Raisina Hill booked for him. And Pranab is not complaining.

Is Pranab a sleeping President? President Rajendra Prasad often confronted Nehru on the powers and positions of the President of India. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan also had his views on president’s role. Zail Singh did not give assent to the Postal Bill though it was passed by the Cabinet and sent for his signature. Again, KR Narayanan used his discretionary powers to call AB Vajpayee to form a government in 1998 though he did not have a majority and it collapsed in 13 days.

Pranab is no adventurer. He knows where he stands and what the book (read Constitution) says. He is happy to spend time reading, writing, visiting countries, meeting guests and walking three miles in the lawns of the Rashtrapati Bhavan every morning.