In the book, ‘The Presidential Years, 2012-2017’, Mukherjee, who passed away in August 2020, has talked in detail about the reasons for the electoral setback for the Congress since 2014.
Mukherjee wrote that he didn’t expect such a poor show by the party in 2014. Talking about reasons for Congress’ defeat, he wrote that the party failed to recognise the end of charismatic leadership. “Tall leaders like Pandit Nehru ensured that India, unlike Pakistan, survived and developed into a strong and stable nation. Sadly, such extraordinary leaders are not there anymore, reducing the establishment to a government of averages,” he wrote.
He wrote that the party lost political focus after his elevation as President of the country. “While Sonia Gandhi was unable to handle the affairs of the party, Dr (Manmohan) Singh’s prolonged absence from the House put an end to any personal contact with other MPs,” Mukherjee wrote. “Besides, some senior Congress leaders’ political naiveté and arrogance hurt the fortunes of the party further.”
He added: “In fact, after the campaign, when all the formalities were complete, several important Congress leaders and ministers met me at Rashtrapati Bhavan for various reasons. Interestingly, none of them expected a clear majority for either the Congress or the UPA combine. Their assessment of the number of seats that the Congress could win varied from 110 to 170,” he wrote.
Talking about himself, Mukherjee wrote that had he continued in the government as finance minister, he would have ensured Mamata Banerjee’s continuity in the coalition.
“Similarly, Maharashtra was handled badly, partly due to decisions taken by Sonia Gandhi. I would have brought back Shivraj Patil or Sushil Kumar Shinde, considering the dearth of a strong leader from the state, like Vilasrao Deshmukh,” he said in the book.
Mukherjee set apart former PM Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi. “Dr Singh was offered the post by Sonia Gandhi. He was essentially an economist, though he had spent time in government as a minister and in politics as a Rajya Sabha member,” he wrote. “Modi, on the other hand, became PM through popular choice after leading the BJP to a historic victory in 2014. He has earned and achieved the prime ministership.”