My temple has been the Parliament: Prez Mukherjee's final address

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Invigorating speech! A political saga comes to an end? Pranabda had his eyes on becoming PM when Indira Gandhi was assassinated!! Not sure if he will take up a second innings in politics after his term as President comes to an end today!

My temple has been the Parliament: Prez Mukherjee's final address

July 24, 2017 19:46

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Pranab Mukherjee delivers a powerful address to the nation -- his final one as the President of India. On July 25, President Pranab Mukherjee's term as President will come to an end as Ram Nath Kovind is sworn in.

A day before he demits office, Pranab Mukherjee addresses the nation. Here are highlights:


>> For the past 50 years of my public life, my secret text has been the constitution of India


>> My temple has been the Parliament of India, my passion has been the service of the people


>> I have received much more from the country than I have given; for that, I will remain ever indebted to people of India


>> The soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance


>> The multiplicity in culture, faith and language is what makes India special


>> We derive our strength from tolerance; it has been part of our collective consciousness for centuries


>> There are divergent strands in public discourse; we may argue, we may agree or we may not agree. But we cannot deny the essential prevalence of multiplicity of opinion


>> We must free our public discourse from all forms of violence, physical as well as verbal


>> Only a non-violent society can ensure the participation of all sections of the people in the democratic process



>> Creative thinking, innovation and scientific temper have to be promoted in our institutions of higher learning


>> For development to be real, the poorest of the land must feel that they are a part of the nations narrative


>> Eradication of poverty would provide a strong boost to happiness


>> Social inclusion would ensure access to the fruits of progress to all


>> During my five years in Rashtrapati Bhavan, we tried to build a humane and happy township


>> When I speak to you tomorrow, it will be as a citizen a pilgrim like all of you in Indias onward march towards glory


>> How successful I was in discharging my responsibilities will be judged, over time, by the critical lens of history

http://news.rediff.com/commentary/2...inal-address/26bef15ee16b7758be754c5526fff0af

 

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Look at the yearning for Pranabda by a power hungry Congressman!!

Welcome home, Pranabda

Why the Congress party is the biggest gainer from Pranab Mukherjee leaving Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Written by Mani Shankar Aiyar | Updated: July 25, 2017 1:25 am

Pranab Mukherjee

“Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest ones are these:
It might have been.”
As Pranabda bows out of Rashtrapati Bhawan, it is a statesman of prime ministerial stature we see moving out of the presidential palace. For, Pranabda has all it takes to make a historic head of government. But Destiny, which, as Omar Khayyam wisely said, “With men for pieces plays/Hither and thither moves/And mates and slays/ Then, one by one, back in the closet lays”. Unless a miracle happens (and they sometimes do in politics) we are never going to see Pranab Mukherjee in Race Course Road. There is the distant example of C. Rajagopalachari, who moved from the Governor-Generalship of India to Government House in Calcutta before becoming Union Home Minister and then Chief Minister of Madras. I once teased the departing Rashtrapatiji with this example but he is a man too embedded in propriety, too strong a believer in what is proper, to even countenance such an idea.
Yet, it is probably the Indian National Congress that is the biggest gainer from this presidential election. For, freed of his constitutional constraints, a retired Pranabda could well become the Congress party’s principal counselor and help guide it back from its present nadir closer to the zenith. Only time will reveal his inclinations in this regard, but the party would do well to listen to his advice (were he to give it) because his has been the wisest voice in the party for decades. We were deprived of it at a time when we were sorely in need of it because the minute he became president his sense of duty detached him from any hint of partisan politics. He was faithful to the only book he knew, which was the Constitution. He studied and restudied it; went into each precedent, many of which he carried in his prodigious memory; conscientiously consulted all he needed to consult; and came to conclusions that were apt and would stand the test of history. He did not depart an iota from his constitutionally decreed role even when it must have been an enormous strain to preside over a nation being led astray from its fundamental values and civilisational attributes.
That is why, at one passing stage, when it looked as if the ruling alliance might fall short of the required majority, a possible consensus candidate to win an uncontested election might have been Pranab Mukherjee himself. Certainly, the Modi government could not have faulted him for any deviation from his oath of office.
In the last three years, there must have been many occasions when the Congressman in Mukherjee must have been crying out to be released from his constitutional bonds, but that unbending adherence to the limits of his constitutional office kept his inward urges under strict control, while his thorough knowledge of the moral authority of his office was fully utilised to air his concerns. He knew the subtle art of hinting at these concerns but stating them in such a manner as to elude those trying to search for a partisan tilt to his remarks. They never found any. For, he indefatigably held to the ethic of constitutional propriety in all his words and actions. Perhaps his moment of departure is also for him a moment of liberation.
It is most unlikely that he will play any overt role in party politics, but Congressmen and women hope, even pray, that they will never be missing a gentle, quiet word from him to the high command to put the party, and, therefore, the nation, on the right path.
What gave Mukherjee his stature in the Congress despite the many storms and setbacks he encountered? The first point to note is that he did not start as a Congressman. His initial party of choice was the Bangla Congress, a regional outfit floated by Ajoy Ghosh after the “Syndicate” was routed by the “Indicate”. But when he was not yet quite 35, Indira Gandhi spotted immense potential in this new recruit to the Rajya Sabha who remained glued to his last-row seat through long hours of debate and discussion when many of his colleagues would find relief in drinking endless cups of coffee in Central Hall. He soon became a permanent fixture at her side, especially after she won the historic “garibi hatao” election of March 1971 with an overwhelming two-thirds majority.
Over the next six years, including the period of the Emergency, Mukherjee spiraled to the top, becoming finance minister when he was barely in his forties. That perhaps was his undoing. For, when Indiraji was assassinated, he was suspected of harbouring excessive ambitions and found himself turfed out of office and even out of the party. He wandered in the political wilderness, even attempting to found his own party — but eventually how he came back and why he had been sent out, or sent himself out, is a mystery that will be unravelled only when he gets to subsequent volumes of his autobiography.
However that may be, by the time Rajiv Gandhi found himself in the Opposition, Pranab Mukherjee had returned — to a humble cubicle in the AICC dealing with economic issues. Once back, however, it took him no time at all to access the inner circle.
Then PV Narasimha Rao became PM, and Mukherjee was well on the way to his second ascent to the top. Appointed Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, he was perhaps the last of the chiefs of that now derelict institution to actually believe in planning. A bit like the boy on the burning deck, he held aloft the flag of socialism in a governmental ethos that had lost its faith in the Nehruvian perspective and was reaching out to a brave new world. Several high ministerial offices followed — defence, foreign affairs, finance — and in the party he was always the last repository of principles, policies and politics. Then, at just the moment he might have become PM, he instead became president.
His belief that the Congress is the “natural party of governance” is unwavering. That is just the morale booster we need. Welcome home, Pranabda!

http://indianexpress.com/article/op...resident-rashtrapati-bhawan-congress-4765637/