& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Good luck Pranab Mukherjee!

M. Shoeb Chowdhury
WELL respected by politicians of all parties, Pranab Mukherjee is the Indian National Congress Party's main troubleshooter and has often been called upon to guide the party through difficult situations. After forty three years in politics, Mr. Mukherjee is now on the way to the palatial estate on Raisina Hill. He will follow the path of former presidents, including Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and Giani Zail Singh, who were MPs when nominated for Raisina Hill.
As a Bengali politician, Mukherjee will create history for the Bengalis. However, there was an unpleasant memory regarding Jyoti Basu's prime ministerial candidature more than a decade ago, which was explained later as a "historical mistake" by CPI-M. But this time CPI-M has given support to Pranab in his bid to become the president, whereas the Trinamool Congress, though being the most important ally of the Congress in the UPA coalition, is yet to make up its mind.
Anyway, this time Mamata Banerjee's unpredictable attitude may not create "historical mistake" as Mukherjee's poll managers are expecting over 65% of the Electoral College to vote in his favour.
Mukherjee is a proven friend of Bangladesh. In the emergency period, I had a long conversation with him about the political situation in Bangladesh as well as in India. I personally found him a very amiable personality who recognises the dignity of all kinds of people.
Pranab Mukherjee is popularly known as the "Chanakya" of Indian politics. A famous Indian news magazine had a cover story on him, "Who will fill the vacuum?"
Mukherjee was born in 1935 in a small village, Mirati of Birbhum District, in West Bengal. His father Mr. Kamada K. Mukherjee was a renowned freedom fighter and spent more than 10 years in British jails. Pranab's father was an active member of Indian National Congress and was also a member of West Bengal Legislative Council from 1952 to 1964. This social affiliation inspired him to join active politics.
Mukherjee successfully performed his parliamentary career spanning over four decades. He held several positions in the government, and rose through a series of cabinet posts to become India's finance minister from 1982 to 1984. He has also served as the country's external affairs minister and defence minister.
His term as finance minister was noted for his work in improving the finances of the government that enabled Indira Gandhi to score a political point by returning the last installment of India's first IMF loan. It was Mukherjee as finance minister who signed the letter appointing Dr. Manmohan Singh as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Mukherjee was considered the top ranking Indian cabinet minister and presided over cabinet meetings in the absence of Mrs. Gandhi. A staunch Indira Gandhi loyalist, he was described as Mrs. Gandhi's "man for all seasons."
The assassination of Indira Gandhi put Mukherjee's career with the Congress in jeopardy. The Rajiv Gandhi era saw the Congress sideline some Indira loyalists including Mukherjee for harbouring ambitions of becoming prime minister. Mukherjee saw himself, and not the rookie Rajiv Gandhi, as the rightful successor to Mrs. Gandhi. He even floated the Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress (National Socialist Congress) party in 1986 in West Bengal, which he would merge with the Indian National Congress three years later after reaching a compromise with Rajiv Gandhi.
Mukherjee's political career revived following the assassina-
tion of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.He served as external affairs minister for the first time from 1995 to 1996 in Rao’s cabinet. He is considered to be a Gandhi family loyalist and the principal architect of Sonia Gandhi's entry into politics, a mentoring responsibility he is still believed to be shouldering. He was made general secretary of the AICC in 1998-99 after Mrs. Gandhi became Congress President. Mukherjee was made president of the West Bengal Congress in 2000 and held the position until his resignation in 2010.
Mukherjee was made the Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha when the Congress formed a new government in India in 2004. He had contested the Lok Sabha elections for the first time and won from Jangipur in West Bengal.
Mukherjee was re-elected from Jangipur in 2009 as the Congress comfortably secured another victory in the national elections. He was briefly considered for the post of the largely ceremonial Indian presidency in 2007. But his name was subsequently dropped after his contribution in the union cabinet was considered practically indispensable.
Mukherjee held many important posts in the Manmohan Singh government. He had the distinction of being the minister for various high profile ministries including defence, finance, and external affairs. He also headed the Congress Parliamentary Party and the Congress Legislative Party, which consists of all the Congress MPs and MLAs in the country apart from being Leader of the House in Lok Sabha and Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president. Mukherjee resigned from these positions in 2012 to contest the national presidential elections.
Mukherjee is very well respected within the party social circles. Media accounts describe him as having "a reputation as a number-crunching politician with a phenomenal memory and an unerring survival instinct." After Sonia Gandhi reluctantly agreed to join politics, Mukherjee was one of her mentors, guiding her through difficult situations with examples of how her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi would have done things. He always played an important role due to his negotiating skills, with which he managed legendary leaders like Jyoti Basu, Nitish Kumar,Lalu Prasad Yadab, M. Karunanidhi, Bal Thackeray, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Kumari Mayawati and others.
"The Best Administrator in India" award winner Mr. Pranab Mukherjee truly is an asset for our subcontinental political arena. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh commented about him: "Mr. Mukherjee's knowledge of parliamentary matters was stupendous. The wide respect he commanded and his long association with the political leaders across the spectrum had proved invaluable in conducting the parliamentary business."
Mukherjee was nominated as the presidential candidate of the UPA on June 15 after considerable political intrigue. The elections results are expected to be announced on July 22. In order to file his nomination for the presidential poll on June 28, he resigned from the government on June 26.
Renowned BJP leader Yashwant Sinha's remark about Pranab Mujherjee is very much realistic: "He certainly deserved the post of prime minister, If he wins the presidential election and enters Rashtrapati Bhavan, that will be some consolation for a long career in politics." Our best wishes to Mr. Pranab Mukherjee. His victory will make both parts of Bengali speaking people (in Bangladesh and in West Bengal) happy. Good luck to Pranab Mukherjee!
The writer is an Entrepreneur and General Secretary, International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) Bangladesh. E-mail:msc4u@live.com