Pranab Mukherjee was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017.
91 Facts About Pranab Mukherjee
2.
Pranab Mukherjee was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 2019, by his successor as president, Ram Nath Kovind.
3.
Pranab Mukherjee got his break in politics in 1969 when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi helped him get elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament of India, on a Congress ticket.
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Pranab Mukherjee was the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1985.
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Pranab Mukherjee was sidelined from Congress during the premiership of Rajiv Gandhi.
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Pranab Mukherjee had viewed himself and not the inexperienced Rajiv, as the rightful successor to Indira following her assassination in 1984.
7.
Pranab Mukherjee formed his own party, the Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress, which merged with Congress in 1989 after reaching a consensus with Rajiv Gandhi.
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Pranab Mukherjee was succeeded as President by Ram Nath Kovind.
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In June 2018, Pranab Mukherjee became the first former President of India to address a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh event.
10.
Pranab Mukherjee was born on 11 December 1935 during the British Colonial rule, into a Bengali Brahmin family in Mirati, a village in the Bengal Presidency.
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Pranab Mukherjee's father, Kamada Kinkar Mukherjee, was active participant in the Indian independence movement and was a member of the West Bengal Legislative Council between 1952 and 1964 as a representative of the Indian National Congress; he was a member of AICC.
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Pranab Mukherjee had two siblings: older sister Annapurna Banarjee and older brother Piyush Mukherjee.
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Pranab Mukherjee attended Suri Vidyasagar College in Suri, which was then affiliated to the University of Calcutta.
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Pranab Mukherjee subsequently earned an MA degree in political science and history and an LL.
15.
Pranab Mukherjee was an upper-division Clerk in the Office of the Deputy Accountant-General in Calcutta.
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Pranab Mukherjee started his political career in 1967 as a founding member of the Bangla Congress.
17.
Pranab Mukherjee became a member of the Rajya Sabha in July 1969 on a Bangla Congress ticket.
18.
Pranab Mukherjee soon became the medium of exchanging confidential notes between Indira Gandhi and Ajoy Pranab Mukherjee.
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Pranab Mukherjee was re-elected to the house in 1975,1981,1993, and 1999.
20.
Pranab Mukherjee emerged unscathed and rose through a series of cabinet posts to become Finance Minister from 1982 to 1984.
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Pranab Mukherjee's term was noted for his work in improving the finances of the government, which enabled Gandhi to score a political point by returning the last installment of India's first IMF loan.
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In 1979, Pranab Mukherjee became Deputy Leader of the INC in the Rajya Sabha, and in 1980, he was appointed Leader of the House.
23.
Pranab Mukherjee was considered the top-ranking Indian cabinet minister and he presided over cabinet meetings in the absence of the Prime Minister.
24.
Pranab Mukherjee was sidelined from the INC following the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
25.
Pranab Mukherjee lost his position in the cabinet and was sent to manage the regional West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee.
26.
Pranab Mukherjee was considered to be Indira's likely successor and, siding with those within his party who aligned themselves against Rajiv Gandhi, Mukherjee was sidelined and eventually expelled from the mainstream.
27.
In 1986, Pranab Mukherjee founded another party, the Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress, in West Bengal.
28.
Pranab Mukherjee served as External Affairs Minister from 1995 to 1996 in Rao's cabinet.
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Pranab Mukherjee was considered to be a Gandhi family loyalist and the principal architect of Sonia Gandhi's entry into politics, a mentoring responsibility he was believed to have continued shouldering.
30.
Pranab Mukherjee was made President of the West Bengal Congress in 2000 and held the position until his resignation in 2010.
31.
Pranab Mukherjee became Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha in 2004.
32.
Pranab Mukherjee contested and won a Lok Sabha seat from Jangipur in West Bengal, which he would later retain in 2009.
33.
Pranab Mukherjee was briefly considered for the post of the largely ceremonial Indian presidency in 2007, but his name was dropped after his contribution to the Union Cabinet was considered practically indispensable.
34.
Pranab Mukherjee held many important posts in the Manmohan Singh government: Pranab Mukherjee had the distinction of being the minister for various high-profile ministries, including Defence, Finance, and External Affairs.
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Pranab Mukherjee ended his affiliation with the Indian National Congress and retired from active political life following his election as president in 2012.
36.
Pranab Mukherjee was "very well respected within the party social circles".
37.
Pranab Mukherjee became a member of the Congress Working Committee on 27 January 1978.
38.
Pranab Mukherjee became a member of the Central Parliamentary Board of the All India Congress Committee that year.
39.
Pranab Mukherjee briefly held the position of treasurer of the AICC and the Congress party in 1978.
40.
Pranab Mukherjee was appointed chairman of the Campaign Committee of the AICC for conducting National Elections to Parliament in 1984,1991,1996, and 1998.
41.
Pranab Mukherjee was chairman of the Central Election Coordination Committee of the AICC from 28 June 1999 to 2012.
42.
Pranab Mukherjee was appointed to the Central Election Committee on 12 December 2001.
43.
Pranab Mukherjee was appointed General Secretary of the AICC in 1998.
44.
Pranab Mukherjee's talents were on display during the negotiations for the Patents Amendment Bill in early 2005.
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Pranab Mukherjee drew on many old allies including the CPI-M leader Jyoti Basu, and formed new intermediary positions, which included product patents.
46.
At the time of his resignation, on being nominated as the UPA's presidential candidate, Pranab Mukherjee was heading several Groups of Ministers and Empowered Groups of Ministers.
47.
Pranab Mukherjee expanded cooperation with the United States during his tenure.
48.
In June 2005, Pranab Mukherjee inked the ten-year Indo-US Defence Framework deal.
49.
Pranab Mukherjee asserted that "Russia has been and will remain India's largest defence partner in the years to come" while inaugurating the 5th session of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation in Moscow in 2005.
50.
Pranab Mukherjee was appointed External Affairs Minister of India in 1995.
51.
Pranab Mukherjee oversaw the successful signing of the US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement with the US government and then with the Nuclear Suppliers Group, allowing India to participate in civilian nuclear trade in spite of not having signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
52.
Pranab Mukherjee played a crucial role in mobilising world opinion against Pakistan after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
53.
Pranab Mukherjee left the position a year later to take over the Finance Ministry of India.
54.
Pranab Mukherjee signed the letter appointing Manmohan Singh as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India in 1982.
55.
Pranab Mukherjee was credited with being an early reformer of the Indian economy.
56.
Pranab Mukherjee was removed from his position as Finance Minister by Rajiv Gandhi in 1984.
57.
Pranab Mukherjee was replaced even though he was rated as the best Finance Minister in the World that year according to a survey by Euromoney magazine.
58.
Pranab Mukherjee returned to handling the finances of India during the premiership of Narasimha Rao, after being appointed Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.
59.
Pranab Mukherjee became the Finance Minister of India in 2009.
60.
Pranab Mukherjee presented the annual budgets in 2009,2010, and 2011.
61.
Pranab Mukherjee implemented many tax reforms, including scrapping the Fringe Benefits Tax and the Commodities Transaction Tax.
62.
Pranab Mukherjee implemented the Goods and Services Tax during his tenure.
63.
Pranab Mukherjee expanded funding for several social sector schemes including the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.
64.
Pranab Mukherjee supported budget increases for improving literacy and health care.
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Pranab Mukherjee expanded infrastructure programmes such as the National Highway Development Programme.
66.
Pranab Mukherjee reaffirmed his commitment to the principle of fiscal prudence as some economists expressed concern about the rising fiscal deficits during his tenure, the highest since 1991.
67.
Pranab Mukherjee declared the expansion in government spending was only temporary.
68.
Pranab Mukherjee was praised for "the confidence [he] has inspired in key stakeholders, by virtue of his fuel price reforms, fiscal transparency and inclusive growth strategies".
69.
The NDTV, upon his resignation in June 2012, wrote: "There [had] been a clamour from many quarters for a change in the Finance Ministry, with Mr Pranab Mukherjee having faced flak for several decisions where politics seemed to overwhelm economic imperatives".
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Pranab Mukherjee was chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata.
71.
Pranab Mukherjee held the following posts: chairman and president of the Rabindra Bharati University and the Nikhil Bharat Banga Sahitya Sammelan; trustee of the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad and the Bidhan Memorial Trust.
72.
Pranab Mukherjee served on the Planning Board of the Asiatic Society.
73.
Pranab Mukherjee was nominated as the presidential candidate of the United Progressive Alliance on 15 June 2012 after considerable political intrigue.
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Pranab Mukherjee was sworn in by the Chief Justice of India on 25 July 2012, becoming the first Bengali to hold the post of President of India.
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Pranab Mukherjee further marvelled at the fact that parties in the opposition ranks supported Mukherjee.
76.
Pranab Mukherjee became first President of India to reply all the mercy petitions in his term for the death row inmates and replying the petitions of former presidents.
77.
In January 2017, Pranab Mukherjee announced that he would not contest the 2017 Presidential elections, citing "advanced age and failing health".
78.
Suvra Pranab Mukherjee was born at Narail, Bengal Presidency, Present Bangladesh.
79.
Pranab Mukherjee moved to Kolkata while she was 10 and married Pranab in 1957.
80.
Suvra died on 18 August 2015, aged 74, of heart failure, while Pranab Mukherjee was still in office.
81.
Pranab Mukherjee was elected in a by-election after his father vacated the seat.
82.
Pranab Mukherjee was inspired by Deng Xiaoping and quoted him quite frequently.
83.
Pranab Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee is a Kathak dancer and politician of the Indian National Congress.
84.
Pranab Mukherjee celebrated the Durga Puja at his ancestral home in Mirati village.
85.
Pranab Mukherjee used to make it a point to be at Mirati village every year to take part in the four-day rituals, the puja having a "social dimension" for him.
86.
Pranab Mukherjee was admitted to the hospital after accidentally slipping and falling in his bathroom.
87.
Pranab Mukherjee was on ventilator support and in critical condition at the Army's Research and Referral hospital in Delhi.
88.
Pranab Mukherjee died on 31 August 2020, aged 84, which was confirmed by his son Abhijit Pranab Mukherjee via Twitter.
89.
Pranab Mukherjee's death came after the attending hospital confirmed that his health had deteriorated early that day, stating that he had been in septic shock since a day earlier, which was caused by his lung infection.
90.
Pranab Mukherjee's body was brought to the crematorium in a van instead of gun carriage due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in the country.
91.
Pranab Mukherjee's ashes were immersed into the Ganges river in Haridwar.