Pranab Mukherjee leaves a sterling legacy behind. He raised the bar really high
When Pranab Mukherjee became the 13th President of India five years ago, certain quarters had expressed muted apprehension on his impartiality, given that he had almost in all of his public life been a Congressman. Indeed, he held senior positions in Congress Governments, even being the de facto second in command on occasions. His proximity to Indira Gandhi was a matter of public knowledge. The two books that he authored on his life and career, and which were published after he became President, indicated his rootedness to the party. However, in the course of his tenure, he surprised his critics by turning out to be a copybook head of state, being meticulous in conduct and upholding the dignity of the high position he held. In the last more than three years, he struck a cordial relationship with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government at the Centre and yet on occasions gently but firmly reminded the regime to remain on track whenever he felt caution needed to be delivered. But he did this in such a nuanced manner that none took offence. Despite the fact that as a Congressman, he had for decades opposed the BJP and its ideology, as President he set that aside and developed warm relations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On more than one occasion, the two complimented each other profusely — and these comments were not made for formality's sake; they were genuinely felt. Modi said Mukherjee had given him valuable advice and that his wisdom was without parallel, while Mukherjee praised the Prime Minister for the “transformational” changes the latter had ushered in the course of his governance of the nation. There had been not one occasion of distasteful confrontation between the incumbent Government and Mukherjee as President. There had been instances where Mukherjee was annoyed with the Government's Ordinance route in certain matters, such as that regarding the enemy property Bill, but even those were handled in a mature manner by both sides concerned. There certainly wasn't the kind of friction that one had seen between President Zail Singh and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi — though Zail Singh, like Mukherjee, had been an active and prominent Congress leader. looking back, Mukherjee's term as President will be considered as among the most distinguished.
In his farewell speech at the Central Hall in Parliament, Mukherjee on Sunday raised certain relevant issues which the political system will do well to bear in mind. The first was that the Parliament was a forum to debate, discuss, and also dissent; but it was not a platform to disrupt the proceedings. This applies to all parties. He added the interesting point that disruptions hurt the Opposition the most and also lead to the passage of important Bills without debate and discussion. The second important point Mukherjee made was that Governments should use the Ordinance route very, very sparingly — in “compelling circumstances”. Implicit in the remark was his displeasure over the repeated use of Ordinances. And the third issue was that smart political parties understood when to course-correct. Perhaps the Congress can learn something from this last observation.