PRANAB MUKHERJEE, LOST TO COVID-19 AT 84

As India emerges as a new epicentre for the coronavirus pandemic outbreak and the cases top 25 million globally, India has lost its 13th President, Pranab Mukherjee. The former President of India who was recognised with Bharat Ratna in 2019 passed away on Monday, 31st August 2020 at the age of 84.

A CLERK, TO LECTURER, TO A JOURNALIST BEFORE ENTERING POLITICS

• With an MA degree in Political Science & History and an LL.B. degree; both from the University of Calcutta, Mukherjee was an upper-division Clerk in the Office of Deputy Accountant-General (Post and Telegraph) in Calcutta.
• In 1963, three years before becoming a politician, he became a lecturer (Assistant Professor) of Political Science at Vidyasagar College, Kolkata.
• He worked as a Journalist with the Desher Dak (Call of Motherland) before he ran for the public office in 1969.

ONE MAN, SERVING INDIA IN DIFFERENT ROLES FOR 5 DECADES SINCE 1969 

• He was the leader of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament of India from 1980 to 1984 when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi helped him get elected on a Congress ticket. While he also served as Minister of Finance for two years from 1982 to 1984.
• He was alienated from Congress post-Indira Gandhi's assassination as Congress focused on making Rajiv Gandhi the leader. Mukherjee viewed himself as the rightful successor but lost to the ensuing power struggle and founded his own Rashtriya Samajwadi Party which later merged with Congress.
• Post Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991, Mukherjee's political career revived as from 1991 to 1996, he was Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission while he became Minister of External Affairs from 1995-1996.
• As the elder statesman of the Congress, Mukherjee was the architect of Sonia Gandhi's ascension to the party's presidency in 1998.
• From 2006 to 2009, he again took the responsibilities as Minister of External Affairs and from 2009 to 2012, he also, for the second time, became Minister of Finance.
• Mukherjee, in his long political career, served as a Member of Parliament seven times from the year 2004 until he retired in 2012 when he served in the cabinet of several prime ministers. He was a member of Lok Sabha For Jangipur.
• In 2012, Mukherjee was elected President of India and he continued in the role till 2017.

DEATH DURING COVID-19 DIAGNOSIS

He authored three books including Beyond Survival: Emerging Dimensions of Indian Economy (1984), Saga of Struggle and Sacrifice in 1992, and his third book which was also released his third book in 1992, called Challenges before the nation.

The recipient of Padma Vibhushan, Bangladesh Liberation War House, Grand Cross of the Ivory Coast, and Bharat Ratna, died 21 days after he was confirmed COVID-19 positive.

PRANAB MUKHERJEE ON TWITTER

Many politicians and celebrities are sharing their condolences on ex-president's death.

His Contribution Will Always be Remembered: Akshay Kumar