Former president Pranab Mukherjee with Rahul Gandh.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi’s “lack of charisma and political understanding” is creating a “problem” for the Congress and his “frequent breaks” when politics is a “24X&, 365-day job”, is causing him to lose the perception battle, former President Pranab Mukherjee had noted in his personal diary in 2014.
Pranab also was angry at Rahul for publicly criticising an ordinance brought out by the Manmohan Singh government that gave cover to convicted lawmakers and went on to note that he has "all the arrogance of his Gandhi-Nehru lineage without their political acumen”, writes his daughter Sharmishta Mukherjee in her book Pranab: My Father to be released next Monday.
Sharmishta’s book on her father, who aspired to become the Prime Minister but could not, is based on his diary entries, personal stories narrated to her and her own research. It also speaks about the personality cult around the Nehru-Gandhi family and his advice to Narendra Modi to acknowledge the contributions of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi among other things.
Though Pranab was “critical of Rahul and seemed to have lost faith in his ability to revive the Congress”, Sharmishta writes that it is “undeniable” that if he was alive today, he would have “definitely appreciated Rahul’s dedication, tenacity and the outreach” during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
She recalls Pranab’s diary entry in 2014 after Rahul visited him in Rashtrapati Bhavan following the Congress losing the Lok Sabha elections and found it surprising when he gave his analysis of what happened in a “most detached way, from a distance as an outsider as if he was not the face of the campaign and the main campaigner of the party”.
Sharmishta quotes Pranab’s diary, “Perhaps his (Rahul’s) distance from the party and a lack of killer instinct could be reasons for his failure to enthuse the party workers to fight the election which BJP got from Narendra Modi.”
Pranab was also “disappointed at Rahul’s frequent disappearing acts”, particularly during a crucial period for the party, and felt it was causing him to lose the perception battle. He particularly refers to his absence at the flag hoisting ceremony at Congress headquarters on December 28, 2014, the party’s Foundation Day months after the Lok Sabha defeat.
“I don’t know the reason but many such incidents (have) happened. As he got everything so easily, he does not value it. Sonia-ji is bent upon making her son the successor but the young man’s lack of charisma and political understanding is creating a problem. Can he revive Congress? Can he inspire people? I do not know,” Pranab wrote.
One of the early references of Rahul in Pranab’s diary was from January 29, 2009 about a Congress Working Committee where Rahul “spoke vehemently against” coalition and he told the young leader to “elaborate his ideas and (that) it should be logically put”.
While describing Rahul as a “very courteous" and “full of questions” person, Pranab felt he was “yet to mature politically”. Pranab wrote in his diary, “he has interest in a diverse range of subjects but moves very quickly from one subject to another. I don’t know how much he listened to and absorbed.”
Sharmishta writes that Pranab was in principle in agreement with Rahul’s objection against the ordinance that gave convicted lawmakers leverage to remain as MPs and MLAs but was “aghast at the manner in which Rahul acted”.
When Sharmishta informed him about Rahul’s interaction during a press conference, Pranab shouted, “Who does he think he is?...Does he even realise the implication of his actions and the effect it will have on Prime Minister and the government?”
Later when she joined politics and relayed the defence of Rahul supporters that he could not convince his party and had to resort to some drama, Pranab told Sharmishta, “If Rahul couldn’t persuade his colleagues without resorting to theatrics, then maybe politics wasn’t his calling.” Sharmishta adds, “I think his faith in Rahul was shaken after this incident.”