Pranab Mukherjee's Last Memoir Creates Stir, Former President Blames Sonia Gandhi & Manmohan Singh For 2014 Debacle

The memoir, The Presidential Years, by former President Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled for a global release in January 2021

(PTI)

New Delhi:  Former President Pranab Mukherjee's memoir of the final volume has caused a stir among the Congress leaders after the leadership of the party has been grabbing headlines for the past few months. The former President, who died in August, appears to blame former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi for the party's 2014 defeat. He also writes that "some members of the Congress" believed had he been Prime Minister, the party would not have lost power. Also Read|FICCI's 93rd AGM: Amid Mega Agitation On Agri Reforms, PM Modi Says, 'Farm Laws Will Open Opportunities For Farmers' "Some members of the Congress have theorized that, had I become the PM in 2004, the party might have averted the 2014 Lok Sabha drubbing. Though I don't subscribe to this view, I do believe that the party's leadership lost political focus after my elevation as president. While Sonia Gandhi was unable to handle the affairs of the party, Dr (Manmohan) Singh's prolonged absence from the House put an end to any personal contact with other MPs," Mukherjee writes, according to excerpts from "The Presidential Years" released by publishers Rupa. The fourth volume of Mukherjee's memoirs recollects the challenges he faced in his years as the President including the difficult decisions he had to make and the tightrope walk he had to undertake to ensure that both constitutional propriety and his opinion were taken into consideration. In the memoir, Mukherjee reveals the relationship he shared with two politically opposed prime ministers during his tenure as the president. "While Dr Singh was preoccupied with saving the coalition, which took a toll on governance, Modi seemed to have employed a rather autocratic style of governance during his first term, as seen by the bitter relationship among the government, the legislature and the judiciary," Mukherjee wrote in the book. He also presents a critical point of view for the Congress party, in which he was a senior leader for over five decades. He candidly refutes the view of leaders of the party, who believed had Mukherjee become the PM in 2004, the party might have averted the 2014 Lok Sabha drubbing. The book, say sources, reflects on his controversial decisions of imposing president's rule in various states, which were overturned by the Supreme Court, and his role in the shock demonetisation of 2016.

 The publishers call the book a "deeply personal account" in which Mr Mukherjee describes "the difficult decisions he had to make and the tightrope walk he had to undertake to ensure that both constitutional propriety and his opinion were taken into consideration".

The book will recount his fascinating journey from growing up under the flicker of a lamp in a remote village of Bengal to walking the rampart of the Rasthrapati Bhavan as the first citizen of India. Filled with rare photos and handwritten notes, the memoir offers a rare glimpse into the life of one of the most important and admired politicians of contemporary India.