A recent article by Sharmishtha Mukherjee, daughter of former President Pranab Mukherjee, praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi has obviously irked the Congress. Ms Mukherjee is no longer in the Congress as she “quit” active politics a few years ago, yet her views, being the daughter of one of the towering Congress leaders who served as Finance, Foreign and Defence Minister and then rose to become the President, do matter indeed. It is not merely a dispassionate critique of the Prime Minister, it is a political statement that tells as much about the Congress as it seeks to tell about Modi.
Her praise comes close on the heels of popular Congress MP Shashi Tharoor often seen and heard praising the Prime Minister, much to the chagrin of his own party. Unlike Ms Mukherjee, Tharoor is an active Congress leader and serving Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.
The praise for the Prime Minister from the Congress quarters comes at a time when the party has launched a sustained campaign against him, accusing him of “multiple failures” on economy, defence and foreign affairs. Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi always makes it a point to describe Prime Minister Modi as “coward and compromised”, something not only in bad taste, but also something that does not reflect and resonate among the Indian masses.
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Ms Mukherjee in her article, recalling her late father Pranab Mukherjee’s assessment of Modi, has placed him (Modi) probably at the highest pedestal ahead of all the Prime Ministers before him. This is what Modi supporters have always been claiming, but is an anathema for the Congress.
“There is no denying the fact that the face of Modi is perhaps the strongest trump card that the BJP has. In him, people see a strong leader who rose from the ranks through sheer merit and hard work, without any trappings of the dynastic entitlements of Congress and the iron grip of family-ruled regional parties”, she wrote in her article. This is not only a telling comment on the Congress as also on the family-run regional parties, but also a fact. You cannot expect someone like Modi emerging from the Congress for the reason Ms Mukhejree has clearly mentioned.
In fact, her father was always believed to be the best Prime Ministerial candidate when Ms Sonia Gandhi chose Dr Manmohan Singh, after questions were raised about her own eligibility to occupy the chair. Much against the public perception that she declined to become the Prime Minister herself and instead made Dr Singh, she actually faced a legal hurdle that was pointed out to her by then President APJ Abdul Kalam.
The fact that she “chose” Dr Singh over Mukherjee reflects the extent of control the family has over the party and its decisions, which it did not want to risk. Mukherjee was denied the Prime Ministerial position obviously because Ms Gandhi and her advisers thought that he would be too strong to tackle and may end up like PV Narsimha Rao, who not only emerged as a strong Prime Minister, but also took control of the party, pushing the family into political oblivion.
Ms Mukherjee, quoting her father, has also made an important point that Modi turned the “parliamentary elections” into a sort of “Presidential form of election”, as the BJP had declared him as the Prime Ministerial candidate much before the 2014 General Elections. Those who voted for the BJP knew who was going to be the Prime Minister if the BJP won. This was exactly something like the US Presidential elections. Like the State Governors in the US emerge as Presidential candidates, Modi emerged from Gujarat where he remained Chief Minister for 12 years. It is his Gujarat ‘image and years’ that propelled him to the national scene as a powerful brand, which he still continues to be.
Once Modi became the Prime Minister, he built up a good working and personal relationship with Pranab Mukherjee, the President of the country the Congress had made. Even there was a background to him being “sent to Rashtrapati Bhawan” out of compulsion rather than a choice as he was too strong and too influential to continue to work under Dr Manmohan Singh, who once used to work under him as Finance Secretary, when he (Mukherjee) was the Finance Minister.
President Mukherjee acted like a “mentor” to Modi, despite coming from an opposing party and ideology. Modi also duly acknowledged his (Mukherjee’s) support and guidance not just on record, but also by conferring the Bharat Ratna, country’s highest civilian award, on him in 2019.
Ms Mukherjee has only written what her late father thought and felt about Modi. There is a lesson for the Congress, only if it wants to learn from late Mukherjee’s observations about Modi. He indeed still remains the most popular and the most powerful “political brand” in the country and also a strong vote-catcher, something the Congress should think about and not be merely dismissive about him with malicious insinuations.
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