2DAIJIWORLD Magazine | September 2020
DAIJIWORLD Magazine | September 2020 3EDITORIALIndia’s former president PranabMukherjee passed away onAugust 31, 2020. He was agreat scholar and an orator, anastute diplomat and an honestpolitician, a devout congressmanand a shrewd trouble shooter, anexemplary administrator and anexpert economist and so on...But I have my own observationabout Pranab Da. When hewas appointed India’s 13 th presidenton July 25, 2012, we had publisheda special cover story - ‘TheFinest Prime Minister India NeverHad’. We did mean it and we hadexplained why he was best suitedto become the prime minister ofIndia than a president.Upon his passing away, manyTV channels and magazinesechoed our sentiments almosteight years later. Some of themeven stated that if Pranab Da hadbeen the prime minister of India,the Congress party would neverhave been at the bottom of itscareer graph in all its 100+ yearsof political history. It was alsosaid that for a person with such astrong mind and political acumen,Pranab Da would never havebeen taken for granted by hiscabinet colleagues while takinghasty decisions, such as telecomspectrum auctions or coal blocksThe Finest PMIndia Never Hadallocations. Although he was allfor staff empowerment, whereinhe gave his colleagues to act asper their conscience, he was alsostrong enough to quell any dissensions.This would have saved thegovernment and the party fromthe future scams and politicalbankruptcy.It is not our intention to underminethe ability and prowessof Manmohan Singh, on the contrary,we acknowledge his yeomanefforts in the economic liberalizationof our country. But I amafraid, he was just a suave gentlemanand a career diplomat andnot a smart politician. He failed toread the writings on the wall. Atbest he could have put in his paperswhen it became difficult forhim to work as a prime minister,which he did not.On the other hand, if PranabDa had been the prime minister,the political scene of India wouldhave been different, so also theprospects of the party. The partythat brought freedom to a country,would not have fallen fromgrace en masse. In addition, thepolitical analysts also point outthat he would have continued asprime minister even beyond 2014on his own merit without succumbingto the party high ups.In his autobiography, ‘Freewith Trial’, Pranab Da describinghis turbulent years between 1996– 2012, says he had a “vague impression”that the Congress partymay project Manmohan Singh asits presidential candidate, leavinghim to be the party’s prime ministerialnominee for the 2014 generalelection. But that sadly did nothappen.The former external affairsminister Salman Khurshid writesin his autobiography, that “Theselection of Dr Manmohan Singhover Pranab Mukherjee (thenthe senior most Congress leader)came as a surprise not only tothe Congress but also to outsiders.Khurshid further adds that theCongress might have averted the2014 Lok Sabha election debacle,(when the Narendra Modi led BJPstormed into power) if the choicehad been otherwise or even ifthey had changed horses midstream.During his five decades old career,Pranab Da held many powerfulportfolios such as finance,defense and external affairs besidesbeing the chairman of thePlanning Commission and theparty’ official trouble shooter. Itis sad therefore that the top posteluded India’s man for all seasons.Not that his position as a presidentwasn’t a high profiled one, but itdid not fulfill people’s aspirations.Now that the great soul (Atma)has departed this mortal world tojoin the Eternal Soul (Paramatma),we bow our heads in high reverencefor his great contribution tothe country. Indeed, a great ‘Ratna’has moved on leaving behindhis favorite land ‘Bharat’.HEMACHARYAEditor-in-chiefhemacharya@daijiworld.com
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