Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of former president Pranab Mukherjee, on Sunday slammed the Congress party, alleging a “decay” within its ranks and emphasised the need for serious introspection into the “sad state of affairs” plaguing the organisation.
Mukherjee lamented that veteran Congress workers feel alienated due to a perceived lack of ideology and questioned why no Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting was convened after her father’s demise in 2020, calling it a departure from tradition.
“The Congress has to answer for this. I can only state the fact. But I would like to just add, I do not know whether it was deliberate or sheer negligence. What are the conventions in such a grand old party?” she asked.
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“If there is this loss of institutional memory, if Rahul Gandhi and the people around him do not know how the Congress acted in these earlier situations, that itself is a serious and sad state of affairs within the Congress,” Mukherjee told PTI.
Mukherjee also highlighted her personal experiences of being trolled by the Congress ecosystem on social media, particularly for defending her father’s legacy. “The Congress, rather than unleashing trolls on social media, should do serious introspection that why a person like me who believed in the hardcore Congress ideology, today feels alienated by the party,” she said.
Earlier, in a post on X, Mukherjee said: “When baba passed away, Congress didn’t even bother to call CWC for a condolence meeting. A senior leader told me it’s not done for Presidents. That’s utter rubbish as I learned later from baba’s diaries that on K R Narayanan’s death, CWC was called and condolence msg was drafted by baba only.”
Demand for Memorial, Bharat Ratna for Manmohan Singh
Addressing the row over the demand for a memorial in honour of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sharmistha Mukherjee said she would refrain from commenting on the controversy as she is no longer associated with the Congress and has quit politics.
However, Mukherjee strongly endorsed the call for a memorial for Singh and urged that Bharat Ratna, the nation’s highest civilian honour, be awarded to him posthumously.
“I would not like to say anything about this, I am not associated with the Congress anymore, I have quit politics. The Congress needs to clarify what Rahul Gandhi has said,” she said.
She added, “”I think the demand to have a memorial for Manmohan Singh is absolutely justified. He was the architect of economic reforms in India, he was the father of India’s growth story, he was a two-time prime minister. So the demand for a memorial in his honour is absolutely justified. Also, on behalf of the ordinary citizens of India, I demand Bharat Ratna for him, he thoroughly deserves it.”
Manmohan Singh, a towering figure in Indian politics, passed away on December 26 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi at the age of 92.