Forming separate party in ’84 a ‘fiasco’: Pranab

Launching the book on Thursday afternoon at Rashtrapati Bhawan, Vice-President Hamid Ansari commended the work penned by the “exalted personality” who is also the narrator of the events in the book. Speaking at release of his second autobiography, Mukherjee recalled his decision to form Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress (RSC) – after being expelled from the Congress in 1984 – was a “fiasco”. “Some facts are to be buried and never to be revealed, because of my conviction that unless the government chose to make it (public), as and when, people should take it and not from somebody’s account,” he said. Mukherjee also said he has penned the autobiography based on the facts from his personal diary, which he said should be digitized after his death.

In reference to an event in the book, he confessed that he was not a mass leader in the mould of Indira Gandhi, or Congress rebels Ajay Mukherjee or now Mamata Banerjee, to be able to succeed in a political career after leaving the party. “I have candidly recognized in the book that I should have not ventured this because I was never a mass leader and I did not have the type of following which rebels from Congress like Ajay Mukherjee in 1960s or recently Mamata and in one sense Indira ji herself had,” he said.

Clearing the air about his ambitions to be the PM, he said, “Many stories have been circulated that I aspired to be the interim PM, that I had staked claim and had to be persuaded otherwise. And that this created misgivings in Rajiv Gandhi’s mind. These stories are completely false and spiteful.” In the book, Mukherjee highlights every major political occurrence of the time – from Rajiv Gandhi’s elevation to the PM to the emergence of PV Narsimha Rao as leader of the nation. 

“It is for the readers to read and come to their own conclusion. I did not deliberately speak on (matters) which are highly confidential. I had a bit conservative approach. As and when facts will be released by the government, the people would come to know and not from somebody’s account who was in the government,” he said.

The book spans through tumultuous times that India was facing ranging from the three major deaths that shocked the nation – the tragic death of Sanjay Gandhi, followed by the assassination of Indira Gandhi and lastly the equally shattering assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. He notes in the book how these events enormously affected the country and also him personally.

Published by Rupa, Mukherjee’s book traces his personal and political journey through one of the most cataclysmic periods in Indian political history. Also present at the launch were Senior BJP leader LK Advani, Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra, former CAG Vinod Rai, former Union ministers Karan Singh and Natwar Singh, among others.