Pranab at Nagpur: Regained relevance

In the end, it was all a needless fuss. It is a free country. After retirement from active political life, and acquiring the status of an elder statesman with the additional appellation of an ex-president, Pranab Mukherjee had to make his own decision whether or not to attend the RSS event. It was grossly unfair to expect him not to go once he had duly agreed to be the chief guest at the annual function of the RSS in Nagpur. Besides, if you insist, he is a man of great erudition and experience, wasn’t it wise to leave him alone to decide what is best for him, instead of plying him with a lot of unsolicited advice. Fear that his presence would accord the RSS respectability was, of course, over-blown. RSS has been around for close to a century, having lived through several crises and concerted attacks to force it to shut shop and disappear into thin air. Besides, Pranab Babu must have calculated that his addressing the RSS meeting would put him at the front and centre of the news cycle, which it did. The point being that unlike his immediate predecessor in Rashtrapati Bhawan, Pratibha Patil, the wily Mukherjee was not willing to fade away from public memory. He still reckoned that he had a role to play in the public life and this was his best opportunity after his retirement as President to put everyone on notice that he was around and available to render whatever useful service he is asked to provide in the larger national cause. Since his foray into Nagpur, it has been widely speculated that he could emerge as the consensus candidate of a non-NDA grouping after the 2019 parliamentary poll should Modi fail to get a clear majority. There seems to be some merit in that line of reasoning. Because the anti-Modi grouping that Rahul Gandhi is keen to forge ahead of the Lok Sabha poll does not boast of a national-level leader. Rahul himself heading a coalition can be easily ruled out since other regional groups do not still recognise him as prime ministerial material. Opting for Mukherjee ticks several boxes immediately. One, as an ex-president he can claim to have severed old links with the Congress Party. Now he was a non-party man who can play the role of an elder statesman. Two, he enjoys stature as a senior leader with vast experience in government and party. He has been a consensus-maker par excellence, especially when Manmohan Singh notionally led a difficult coalition for a decade. Three, during his time in Rashtrapati Bhawan he had established a good working rapport with Prime Minister Modi. And upon retirement, publicly commended Modi for his energy and determination to work hard for the nation.

And, now, by taking the trouble to go to Nagpur and delivering an anodyne address in which he was careful not to offend the hosts, Mukherjee might have further softened the likely opposition to come from his helming a hotchpotch coalition post-poll in case Modi fails to reach the half-way mark in the next Lok Sabha. Of course, these are all in the realm of the future, but then by his lone act, Mukherjee may have signaled that he is not about to lead a fully retired life like his immediate predecessor Pratibha Patil. Notably, there is no constitutional bar on a former president becoming prime minister. Of course, there is no precedent, but precedents are born of extraordinary circumstances. When the non-BJP parties are in search of a credible face with an all-India profile, there is no one better than Mukherjee. He is only 82. In Malaysia, 92-year-old Mahathir Mohhammed has just taken over as prime minister. Age is no bar when it comes to holding political office. Mukherjee fully fills the bill — any day better than Manmohan Singh, who all through the ten years he was prime minister sat on his hands while his ministerial colleagues plundered the public purse and Rahul Gandhi openly mocked and humiliated him. Mukherjee would be a tough nut to crack should he get a crack at the prime minster’s post. His visit to Nagpur must have revived his ambitions, twice thwarted by his old party, once in 1984 and again in 2004. Maybe 2019 will bring him better luck.