Differences have emerged among the children of the late leader after the announcement by the Rupa Publication House to print the new book The Presidential Years’, containing memoirs of former President Pranab Mukherjee. Former President Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijeet Mukherjee on Tuesday asked the Publication House to stop publishing the book. He said that he would like to see and approve a material. Meanwhile, his sister and Congress party spokesperson Sharmishtha Mukherjee said that her father had approved the book. At the same time, he has advised Abhijeet to avoid cheap popularity.
He said that the excerpts issued were ‘Motivated’ and the former President would not have approved them. He has asked publication group Rupa Books to stop the publication of this book. In his tweet today, Abhijeet Mukherjee while addressing publisher Kapish Mehra said that since my father is no more, I want to go through the contents of the final copy of the book as his son. Had my father been alive, he would have done the same.
@kapish_mehra @Rupa_Books
I , the Son of the author of the Memoir ” The Presidential Memoirs ” request you to kindly stop the publication of the memoir as well as motivated excerpts which is already floating in certain media platforms without my written consent .1/3– Abhijit Mukherjee (ABHIJIT_LS) December 15, 2020
He further tweeted, “You are requested to stop publication until I approve its contents and give my consent in writing. I have already sent you a detailed letter in this regard which Will reach you soon. “
Pranab Mukherjee himself gave approval
Hindustan Times tried to talk to the publishers, but for now they have refused to make any comment. However, an official on condition of anonymity said that President Pranab Mukherjee had not only approved the final draft of the manuscript, but also approved the cover a day before hospitalization.
The official concerned said that the former President had signed the first agreement with him in 2013 and the contract for his new book was signed in 2018. But then Abhijeet Mukherjee was nowhere.
Publisher Rupa released excerpts from the book
Let me tell you, publisher Roopa Books on Friday released excerpts from ‘The Presidential Years’ in which he held interim president Sonia Gandhi and then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh responsible for the Congress party’s mutual discord and collapse in the 2014 general elections. The book also states that Prime Minister Narendra Modi employed an autocratic style of governance during his first term in power.
Another official working with the former president told Hindustan Times that President Mukherjee had approved the publication of the new volume of the book. Though he tried to talk to his daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee as well, but he has not yet responded. Significantly, the Congress party has not yet given any answer on the details of the book or its revelations.
I, daughter of the author of the memoir ‘The Presidential Years’, request my brother @ABHIJIT_LS not to create any unnecessary hurdles in publication of the last book written by our father. He completed the manuscript before he fell sick 1/3
– Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) December 15, 2020