The chieftain of the
Indian National Congress in the14th
Lok Sabha, Pranab Mukherjee is known for his skilled party functionary as "a prominent Gandhi family loyalist who did not win a popular election until 2004". This prominent parliamentarian Pranab Mukherjee is the foreign Minister of India in the
Manmohan Singh Goverment. Being a pragmatist, Pranad Mukherjee himself comes out to have a clean image. In an interview when he was asked about the corruption within the goverment during his tenureship as the Foreign Minister, he replied `Corruption is an issue. We have dealt with it in the manifesto. But I am sorry to say that these scams are not confined to any particular political party or to any particular government alone. There are so many scams. So many leaders of various political parties are involved in them. So it would be too simplistic to say that the government was involved in scams.`
This eminent politician was born in Mirati village near Kirnahar town, District Birbhum,
West Bengal, on December 11, 1935. Pranab Mukherjee was born to father Kamada Kinkar Mukherjee, an Congress Party activist from 1920, a member of AICC and West Bengal Legislative Council( 1952-64 ) and to mother Rajlakshmi Mukherjee. Kamada Kinkar Mukherjee was a esteemed freedom fighter and for showing opposition to the British Rule, he was sent to prison for more than 10 times. On july 13, 1957, Pranab Mukherjee was married to Suvra Mukherjee and they has two sons and a daughter.
He attended the Suri Vidyasagar College, Suri (Birbhum), affiliated to the University of Calcutta. He obtained Masters degree in both History and Political Science, and an honorary D. Litt also. From the University of Calcutta, he obtained a degree in law and has been an advocate and college teacher at some time. His association with politics started at very early age hand in hand with his father. Now he has a parliamentary career of nearly four decades.
In 1969, he first became a Rajya Sabha member from the Congress Party and continued re-electing in 1975, 1981, 1993 and 1999. In 1985, he was also the president of West bengal state unit of Congress. He joined the cabinet in 1973, as Union Deputy Minister, Industrial Development. His inclusion at the beginning was an accident. He was present at Rashtrapathi Bhavan to witness the swearing in of ministers. The number of ministers to be sworn in was found ominous and the viewer Pranab Mukherjee was added on to make it fortunate. Thus Pranab Mukherjee geared up his career as Minister. He has rised through a series of cabinet posts and finally reached to an outmost position, the Finance Minister of India between 1982 and 1984. According to a survey of Euromoney magazine, he was ranked as one of the best five Finance Ministers of the World. His tenureship was noted for India not withdrawing the last US$ 1.1 billion instalment of an IMF( International Monitory Fund) loan.
He departed the Congress Party for a brief period. But in 1989 he re-entered. His political career again revived with the P.V. Narashima Rao Government and he was appointed as the Deputy chaiman of the planning commission and conversantly as a union cabinet minister. For the first time from 1995 to 1996, he served as foreign minister in the PV Narasimha Rao cabinet. He was conffered in the year 1997 as `Outstanding Parliamentarian`.
This striking personality has been a member of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund, of the World Bank, of the Asian Development Bank, and of the African Development Bank. He chaired the Group of 24, in 1984, attached to the IMF and World Bank. He presided over the SAARC Council of Ministers Conference, between May and November 1995. From 1991 to 1996, he has also held the position of Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission. He was always a member of the Rajya Sabha throughout his long career. He has been voted to the Rajya sabha five times by a party-based voting system. In the Lok Sabha elections, he lost twice. He brought off to obtain the "safe seat"of Jangipur, West Bengal, in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections and finally entered the 14th Lok Sabha.
Nevertheless, he is well abided by the Party. According to
Sonia Gandhi biographer Rasheed Kidwai; "Congress leaders regard him as a living encyclopedia. He is an authority on all subjects from food processing to culture to diplomacy to social policies." His talents were again displayed during the negotiations for the `Patent`s Amendment Bill` in 2005. as Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee was not officially involved but was persuaded for his negotiation skills. The bill was finally approved on March 23, 2005.
Another feather to his political career was added on 24 October 2006 when Pranab Mukherjeee was appointed as the External Affairs Minister of India. Pranab Mukherjee has written books on his credit. (i) Mid-term Poll, 1969, (ii) Beyond Survival: Emerging Dimensions of Indian Economy, 1984, (iii) Off the Track, 1987, (iv) Saga of Struggle and Sacrifice, 1992, and (v) Challenges before the Nation (on Indian National Congress), 1992.
With this Pranab Mukherjee earned the respect of being the 2nd positioned man in the Cabinet of India.
