News Brief
Congress Needs Serious Introspection, Not Social Media Trolls, Says Pranab Mukherjee's Daughter Sharmistha
Sharmistha Mukherjee (Daughter of Pranab Mukherjee)
Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of former president Pranab Mukherjee, voiced her concerns over the "sad state of affairs" in the Congress, urging the party to undertake serious introspection.
Speaking on Sunday, Mukherjee highlighted the alienation felt by veteran Congress workers and questioned the ideological direction of the party under its current leadership.
Mukherjee remarked, “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 further criticised the lack of institutional memory within the Congress, directly questioning Rahul Gandhi and his team.
“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 was quoted as saying by PTI.
Mukherjee expressed disappointment that no Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting was convened following her father’s death.
The CWC, the highest decision-making body of the party, typically drafts condolence messages for prominent leaders.
Referring to her father’s diaries, Mukherjee noted that a CWC meeting had been held and a condolence message drafted after the death of K R Narayanan, a former president of India.
“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,” she posted on X.
“The whole Congress ecosystem, as in, its social media, was relentlessly trolling me and my father over this and some other issues. The kind of language that was used on me and one of the tallest leaders like my father shows that there is a real rot in the Congress," she said.
She further added, "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.”
Mukherjee also brought up the lack of recognition for non-dynastic leaders in the party, pointing to former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao as a key example.
“Let us not forget what was done to P V Narasimha Rao,” she said, criticizing the party for sidelining his contributions.
When asked about the controversy surrounding the setting up of a memorial for former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Mukherjee voiced her support for honouring Singh with a memorial.
She also advocated for posthumously conferring the Bharat Ratna on him, recognising his contributions to the country.
Sharmistha Mukherjee, who has quit politics and is no longer associated with the Congress, made it clear that the party must clarify its ideological stance and leadership direction.
“The Congress needs to clarify what Rahul Gandhi has said,” she added.
