Updated: December 15, 2020, 7:00:50 p.m.
The former president and longtime congress leader died of complications from COVID-19 on August 31 at the age of 84 (Express photo by Renuka Puri).
In a book “The Presidential Years” by the late former President Pranab Mukherjee, which is due to be published next January, there were disputes between his son Abhijit Mukherjee and his daughter Sharmishtha Mukherjee, both members of the Congress Party.
While Abhijeet tweeted the publishing house Rupa to stop the publication of the memoirs and “motivated excerpts” without his written consent, Mukherjee’s daughter urged his brother not to create “unnecessary hurdles”.
“I, the son of the author of the memoir The President’s Memoirs Ask you to stop publishing the memoirs as well as the motivational excerpts that have already been published on certain media platforms without my written consent, ”Abhijit, a former congressman, said in a tweet.
@kapish_mehra @ Rupa_Books
I, the son of the author of the memoir “The Presidential Memoirs”, kindly ask you to kindly stop the publication of the memoirs and motivated excerpts that have already been published on certain media platforms without my written consent .1 / 3– Abhijit Mukherjee (@ABHIJIT_LS) December 15, 2020
“Since my father is no more, I, as his son, would like to go through the contents of the final copy of the book before it is published because I believe if my father had been alive today he would have done the same,” he tweeted. As a son, Abhijit said he asked publishers to stop publishing immediately.
In response, Sharmishtha said her father completed the manuscript before he fell ill, and the final draft of the book included her father’s handwritten notes and comments, which were strictly followed.
I, the daughter of the author of the memoir The Presidential Years, please my brother @ABHIJIT_LS not to create unnecessary hurdles in the publication of our father’s last book. He completed the manuscript before he became 1/3 ill
– Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) December 15, 2020
“The final draft contains my father’s handwritten notes and comments, which were strictly followed. The views he expresses are his own and no one should try to prevent them from being published for cheap advertising. That would be the biggest disadvantage for our late father, “she said in a tweet. She also corrected her brother, saying the title of the book was “The Presidential Years”, not “The Presidential Memoirs”.
The memoir was recently posted on the news for Pranab Mukherjee’s critical comments on Congress, including his observation that the party lost political focus following his appointment as president.
“Some members of Congress have theorized that if I had become Prime Minister in 2004, the party might have averted the 2014 Lok Sabha drubbing. While I disagree with this view, I believe that the party’s leadership has lost its political focus after my appointment as president. While Sonia Gandhi was unable to run the party’s affairs, Dr. Singh’s prolonged absence from the house and any personal contact with other MPs, ”Mukherjee had written.
“While Dr. Singh was busy rescuing the coalition, which put a heavy strain on governance, Modi appeared to have adopted a more autocratic style of governance in his first term, as evidenced by the bitter relationship between government, lawmakers and judiciary. Only time will tell if there is a better understanding of such matters in the second term of this government. “
In the third volume of his memoir, The Coalition Years, Mukherjee had revealed that he believed he could have been the 2012 Congress election for Prime Minister. Mukherjee died on August 31 at the age of 84. The book is scheduled to appear worldwide in January 2021.