LUCKNOW: Former President Pranab Mukherjee was deeply upset with Rajiv Gandhi for allowing the locks of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya to be opened in 1986 when he was the Prime Minister.
The move, Mukherjee thought, would not only go on to dent the Congressimage, but also set a bad precedent of intermixing of religion and vote-bank politics in governance.These views, among many others, were put forth by Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee during a talk at Universal Bookseller in Gomtinagar on Tuesday.
Sharmistha, a former Congress spokesperson, revealed that her father was upset with Rajiv Gandhi for ignoring the letter written by former UP chief minister Kamlapati Tripathi, advising against opening of the locks of the disputed structure. He even went on to call the demolition of the mosque a ‘dastardly act’ and foresaw that this would go on to hurt Congress deeply in the Hindi belt in the future.
“It is very clear from the notes in his diaries that he was deeply disturbed by the entire episode. And more than the Rath Yatra and the Kar Sevaks, he was upset with Rajiv Gandhi for allowing the locks to be opened,” Sharmistha said.
Sharmistha’s assertion is based on the diary entries of her father that offer a ring-side view of Indian politics in the past 50 years which she has weaved into an unputdownable book titled-Pranab, My Father.
Sharmistha told TOI that her father did harbour the desire to be the prime minister one day. He, however, was a pragmatic man and could foresee that it was least likely to happen.
“He was wise enough to not let his desires blind him towards reality. He knew his weaknesses and that despite possessing all the qualities needed for effective governance he wasn’t a mass leader,” she pointed out.
On the imposition of emergency by Indira Gandhi, Sharmistha claimed her father supported the emergency on the grounds of events and circumstances preceding it.
“Given the riots, assassination of a union minister, and the court’s direction to impeach the Prime Minister, my father believed that there was no other way. In his later days, he, however, felt that an open dialogue between Indira and opposition leader JP Narayan could have altered the history,” she maintained.
Sharmistha also talked about her father’s decision to attend the RSS event.
“He believed in an open dialogue and had good terms with people from across the spectrum be it Sitaram Yechury of the left or Arun Jaitley of the right. Besides, he believed that RSS had become a force that cannot be ignored, and we must engage with them without compromising with our set of virtues,” she asserted.
The move, Mukherjee thought, would not only go on to dent the Congressimage, but also set a bad precedent of intermixing of religion and vote-bank politics in governance.These views, among many others, were put forth by Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee during a talk at Universal Bookseller in Gomtinagar on Tuesday.
Sharmistha, a former Congress spokesperson, revealed that her father was upset with Rajiv Gandhi for ignoring the letter written by former UP chief minister Kamlapati Tripathi, advising against opening of the locks of the disputed structure. He even went on to call the demolition of the mosque a ‘dastardly act’ and foresaw that this would go on to hurt Congress deeply in the Hindi belt in the future.
“It is very clear from the notes in his diaries that he was deeply disturbed by the entire episode. And more than the Rath Yatra and the Kar Sevaks, he was upset with Rajiv Gandhi for allowing the locks to be opened,” Sharmistha said.
Sharmistha’s assertion is based on the diary entries of her father that offer a ring-side view of Indian politics in the past 50 years which she has weaved into an unputdownable book titled-Pranab, My Father.
Sharmistha told TOI that her father did harbour the desire to be the prime minister one day. He, however, was a pragmatic man and could foresee that it was least likely to happen.
“He was wise enough to not let his desires blind him towards reality. He knew his weaknesses and that despite possessing all the qualities needed for effective governance he wasn’t a mass leader,” she pointed out.
On the imposition of emergency by Indira Gandhi, Sharmistha claimed her father supported the emergency on the grounds of events and circumstances preceding it.
“Given the riots, assassination of a union minister, and the court’s direction to impeach the Prime Minister, my father believed that there was no other way. In his later days, he, however, felt that an open dialogue between Indira and opposition leader JP Narayan could have altered the history,” she maintained.
Sharmistha also talked about her father’s decision to attend the RSS event.
“He believed in an open dialogue and had good terms with people from across the spectrum be it Sitaram Yechury of the left or Arun Jaitley of the right. Besides, he believed that RSS had become a force that cannot be ignored, and we must engage with them without compromising with our set of virtues,” she asserted.