Former President Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter, Sharmistha Mukherjee, claimed that the Congress party is in a “sad state of affairs” and demanded “serious introspection.”
She also said in an interview with PTI that the “current state of affairs” and the absence of a “ideology” among top Congress leaders are the reasons why party members feel cut off from the party’s top leadership.
Compares CWC meeting
In response to her father’s passing in August 2020, Mukherjee said that the party did not call a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting. The highest decision-making body within the party is the CWC.
She asked, “The Congress has to answer for this. I can only state the fact. But I would like to just add, I do not know whether it was deliberate or sheer negligence. What are the conventions in such a grand old party?”
She added, “If there is this loss of institutional memory, if Rahul Gandhi and the people around him do not know how the Congress acted in these earlier situations, that itself is a serious and sad state of affairs within the Congress”.
In a previous post on X, she stated, “When baba passed away, Congress didn’t even bother to call CWC for a condolence meeting. A senior leader told me it’s not done for Presidents. That’s utter rubbish as I learned later from baba’s diaries that on K R Narayanan’s death, CWC was called and condolence msg was drafted by baba only”.
Additionally, the daughter of the former president accused the Congress of persistently mocking her on social media about topics she had brought up over the years.
Mukherjee said, “The kind of language that was used on me and one of the tallest leaders like my father shows that there is a real rot in the Congress. The Congress, rather than unleashing trolls on social media, should do serious introspection that why a person like me who believed in the hardcore Congress ideology, today feels alienated by the party”.
Following the Congress CWC’s special meeting on Friday to honor former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Mukherjee made his remarks.
The CWC resolution noted, “Dr. Singh embodied the very best qualities of a true statesman — compassion, honesty, and a deep commitment to public service. His life was a living example of how grace and humility can coexist with great power”.
On memorial row
Since she is no longer a party member, Mukherjee declined to comment on the controversy surrounding the establishment of a memorial for Singh.
Mukherjee stated, “I think the demand to have a memorial for Manmohan Singh is absolutely justified. He was the architect of economic reforms in India, he was the father of India’s growth story, he was a two-time prime minister. So the demand for a memorial in his honour is absolutely justified. Also, on behalf of the ordinary citizens of India, I demand Bharat Ratna for him, he thoroughly deserves it”.
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