Pranab wanted ‘Red Diary’ to be cremated with him

A magazine once described him as “The man who knew too much.”

Pranab Mukherjee, former President was the “veteran insider” in the corridors of power. The man, who apparently had “the memory of an elephant.” Pranab, the treasure trove of political secrets was an avid diary writer as well.

His much talked about ‘Red Diary’ is apparently the “truthful account of his political journey.” It is believed that this diary if ever published could stir the hornet’s nest in Indian politics.

In his e-book - Akothito Pranab (Untold Pranab), journalist and author, Goutam Lahiri wrote that Pranab Mukherjee had said, “My Red Diary will never be published. It will be cremated along with my body.” There were speculations that he would eventually handover his ‘Red Diary’ to his daughter Sharmishtha.

Pranab Mukherjee’s, political journey began in West Bengal in 1969, as the election agent for V.K. Krishna Menon, who was contesting a Lok Sabha byelection as an independent candidate.

In his 50-odd years, he was the ultimate insider. He had a vast network of key political players, cutting across party lines. He was not only close to the CPI(M) leader and the then West Bengal chief minister, Jyoti Basu but had often invited RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat to Rashtrapati Bhawan during his tenure as the President.

He had powerful allies and equally powerful enemies.

The man, who was virtually “number two” during the rule of Indira Gandhi was expelled from the party by her son, Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv influenced by Congress leaders, like Arun Nehru, A.B.A. Gani Khan Chowdhury, Balaram Jhakhar among the few not excluded Mukherjee from Union Council of Ministers but later expelled him.

He was told that Pranab nurtured the ambition of being the Prime Minister after the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984.

Lahiri in his e-book recounts the details of this “misunderstanding.”

Lahiri writes, “Rajiv Gandhi (on his way to Delhi from Bengal) sought Pranab’s advice on “who after Indira”.

Mukherjee reminded that when Jawaharlal Nehru died in 1964 and Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966, the senior-most cabinet minister, Gulzari Lal Nanda was appointed as acting PM.

Pranab Mukherjee was number two in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet. This apparently was distorted

and the coterie close to Rajiv Gandhi indicated that Pranab was pitching for himself.

This was the beginning of Pranab’s fall during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure.

However, hit by Bofors scam, a revolt by V.P. Singh later forced Rajiv Gandhi to get Pranab back into Congress in 1988. Sometime before his assassination, Rajiv in a magazine interview had confessed, “Things people told me about Pranab Mukherjee were wrong.”

The content in the “Red Diary”, if ever seen the light of the day, could lift

the curtains, which even in his book, The Coalition Years Mukherjee refrained from doing.

His book displayed caution and actually is not a tell-all memoir.

Pranab had been privy to all the redefining moments in Indian politics ranging from creation and rise of the militant Sikh leader, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, antiSikh riots and demolition Babri Mosque among others.