Pranab’s-eye view: Arunachal disaster to PM observe ban attraction

From telling the BJP authorities in 2016 that he must dismiss the then Arunachal Pradesh Governor J P Rajkhowa if he didn’t resign after the Supreme Court pulled him up, to advising Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to depart his “penchant” for sitting on dharna over “frivolous issues”, and disclosing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi met him after saying demonetisation to hunt his “explicit support” — the late President Pranab Mukherjee’s memoir is each revelatory and observational.
In The Presidential Years, Mukherjee says that he refused to journey in then US President Barack Obama’s armoured automobile throughout his go to to India in 2015. Mukherjee requested the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to tell the US authorities that when the US President travels with the Indian President in India, he must belief the safety preparations right here.
The Presidential Years, the fourth quantity of Mukherjee’s memoirs, printed by Rupa, was launched immediately.
While he loved good relations with Modi, Mukherjee makes some essential observations about him and a few of his key selections. He says that the Modi authorities failed in its “primary responsibility” to make sure the graceful and correct functioning of Parliament in its first time period; that his model of governance throughout his first time period was “autocratic”; that Modi’s December 2015 stopover in Lahore to greet the then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his birthday was “unnecessary and uncalled for” given the circumstances that prevailed in India-Pakistan relations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with former President Pranab Mukherjee. (Photo: Twitter @narendramodi)
He additionally says that Modi “plays up personal equations” with international leaders “too much”, and “to take such relationships as true is a bit absurd”. For occasion, he says, the “perception that India and Japan have become friends since the arrival of Modi as PM is not correct. We have had good relations with Japan even before 2014, and (Shinzo) Abe had visited India before Modi became PM”.
Mukherjee says the surgical strikes carried out by Indian forces throughout the border have been regular navy operations in response to Pakistan’s continued aggression. He says there was “really no need to over-publicise them” and argues that “we gained nothing by over-talking on these operations.”
According to Mukherjee, the “multiple stated objectives of demonetisation” weren’t met. He additionally says that he was “personally not enthused” by the scrapping of the Planning Commission however didn’t want to rake up an issue by opposing it publicly. “I personally feel it was a mistake, indeed a blunder, to do away with the plan panel,” he says.
It is the fourth quantity of the previous President’s memoirs.
There are some bitter observations in regards to the Congress too, together with celebration chief Sonia Gandhi.
Mukherjee says the Congress’s defeat within the 2014 Lok Sabha elections was as a result of it “had failed miserably to fulfill people’s expectations and aspirations”. Without taking names, he says “some senior Congress leaders’ political naiveté and arrogance hurt the fortunes of the party further.”
“I believe that the leadership of a party in times of crisis has to evolve a different approach. If I had continued in the government as finance minister, I would have ensured Mamata’s continuity in the coalition. Similarly, Maharashtra was handled badly, partly due to decisions taken by Sonia Gandhi. I would have brought back Shivraj Patil or Sushil Kumar Shinde, considering the dearth of a strong leader from the state, like Vilasrao Deshmukh. I don’t think I would have allowed the state of Telangana to be created. I firmly believe that my presence in active politics would have ensured that the Congress wouldn’t have faced the drubbing it received in the 2014 general elections,” he writes.

Pranab Mukherjee with Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi (File)
In then Arunachal Pradesh Governor Rajkhowa’s case, the Supreme Court had pulled him up in 2016 over the dismissal of the Congress authorities within the state a yr earlier. Rajkhowa didn’t resign, regardless of a nudge by the central authorities, and in September 2016, the President dismissed him.
“During this crisis, the home minister (Rajnath Singh) met me and discussed the developments in the state. I cannot divulge the details of the discussion because it is privileged information; even the Supreme Court cannot direct me to disclose it. At some point though, I had expressed my displeasure to the home minister on the Governor’s conduct. Everybody wanted to wait for the Supreme Court’s verdict. I was expecting, as others were, some interim order, but when it did not come, I had to act. The verdict, when it came, indicted the Governor on all counts, but Rajkhowa did not quit. I told the home minister that if the Governor did not act, I would have to – in other words, ask the Governor to quit. Before signing the presidential proclamation, I had consulted legal experts,” Mukherjee writes.
On demonetisation, he says Modi didn’t talk about the difficulty with him earlier than saying the choice on November 8, 2016. “However, after delivering his address to the nation, the PM visited me at Rashtrapati Bhavan and explained to me the rationale behind his decision. Modi outlined three main objectives of demonetisation: tackling black money, fighting corruption and containing terror funding. He desired an explicit support from me as a former finance minister of the country…Following the meeting, I issued a statement extending support to the principle of demonetisation,” he writes, however provides that whereas it’s tough to evaluate the precise impression of demonetisation, near 4 years after it was applied, one factor that may be acknowledged with out worry of contradiction is that that the a number of targets, as acknowledged by the federal government, haven’t been met.
Pranab Mukherjee with Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Narendra Modi
Mukherjee additionally has a bit of recommendation for Modi. Stating that simply the bodily presence of the PM in Parliament makes an amazing distinction to the functioning of this establishment, he says: “PM Modi, now in his second term, must take inspiration from his predecessors and provide visible leadership, through his enhanced presence in Parliament to avoid situations that had precipitated the parliamentary crisis we witnessed in the first term. He must listen to the dissenting voices and speak more often in Parliament.”

On Kejriwal, Mukherjee says the Delhi Chief Minister and his deputy Manish Sisodia sought his recommendation as soon as on the standard of schooling in faculties and the introduction of a particular curriculum on happiness. “I used one of these occasions to speak my mind to Kejriwal on his penchant for sitting on dharna over frivolous issues. He had been prone to take to the streets to highlight various concerns. On one occasion, he had even refused to leave the Lt Governor’s residence in protest against what he believed was the Lt Governor’s refusal to heed his plea, and spent a night at the place! I told him that, while all this was fine when he was an activist, if he persisted with the same strategy as CM, it would not add to the dignity of the high office he occupied. I advised that it was important for him to maintain that dignity.”

Mukherjee died on August 31 final yr, on the age of 84.