Baba felt that democracy is all about dialogue. It is about having a conversation with the opposition – Sharmishtha Mukherjee

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Former president Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmishtha Mukherjee said her father felt he was not included in the cabinet of Rajiv Gandhi due to his “non-subservient” attitude. At the launch of her book “Pranab My Father: A Daughter Remembers” , Sharmishtha said her father would say that his stint with former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was the “golden period” of his political life.

According to PTI report , The book, that has references taken from Mukherjee’s diaries, was launched on the occasion of his birth anniversary. The event also saw the attendance of Congress leader P Chidambaram and BJP leader Vijay Goel. She also touched upon his assessment of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, which is part of the book and excerpts of which stirred a controversy. Sharmishtha said that even her father was opposed to the proposed ordinance a copy of which was torn by Rahul Gandhi at a press conference in September 2013, but he felt that it should be discussed in the Parliament. The ordinance aimed to bypass a Supreme Court order of immediate disqualification of convicted legislators, and instead proposed that they may continue as a member while an appeal in a higher court was pending.

“I was the one to break the news (about tearing of the ordinance) to him. He was so angry,” Sharmishtha said. She also said that her father, as the President of the country, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi worked as a team. During a conversation over the book with former bureaucrat Pavan K Varma, she also recalled her opposition to her father attending an RSS event. “I fought with Baba for three to four days over his decision. One day he said that it’s not me who is giving legitimacy but it’s the country. Baba felt that democracy is all about dialogue. It is about having a conversation with the opposition,” she added. At the start of the discussion, she had also said that the book has very few references of Rahul Gandhi.