Pranab hails Parliament, leaves with memories
Outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee, while accepting a gracious farewell from both the Houses of Parliament, lamented that “it is unfortunate that parliamentary time devoted to legislation has been declining”. He also mentioned how in olden time in Rajya Sabha, of which he was a member for five terms, fruitful debates used to take place in the presence of brilliant speakers.
In his farewell speech, after Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan lauded his exemplary role as a parliamentarian and then as the President for the past five years, Mukherjee said as many as 790 voices are represented in both the Houses from the vast country and each one of them is important. “With heightened complexity of administration, legislation must be preceded by scrutiny and adequate discussion,” he said.
Mukherjee in his 15-minute speech went down memory lane but did not forget to thank PM Narendra Modi who was seated in front of him in the Central Hall that was filled with present and former MPs. The President also mentioned the names of Sonia Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh, Indira Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, praising each of them for different reasons as also for guiding and supporting him through words and action.
The President recalled that in early days when he was an MP, both Houses of Parliament used to reverberate with animated discussions and illuminative and exhaustive debate on social and financial legislations. Listening to the stalwarts for hours and days in Parliament, sitting in the Treasury or Opposition benches, I felt one with the soul of this living institution, he said. He named some of outstanding MPs, including M.C. Chagla, Ajit Prasad Jain, Raj Narain, Bhai Mahavir, Loknath Mishra and Bupesh Gupta, whom he called a “true legend”.
Earlier, Hamid Ansari and Sumitra Mahajan gave brief speeches outlining Mukherjee’s contribution to the parliamentary democracy.
It will be with a tinge of sadness and a rainbow of memories that I will be leaving this building today... I leave with a sense of fulfilment and happiness of having served the country…Jai Hind — Pranab Mukherjee Outgoing President