As Pranab Mukherjee passes away, we remember the man, the politician, the Rashtrapati.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that the date of Ram temple consecration in Ayodhya should be celebrated as "Pratishtha Dwadashi" as it marks the "true independence" of India, which faced "parachakra" (enemy attack) for several centuries. Bhagwat said that the Ram temple movement was not started to oppose anyone, but to awaken the "self" (swa) of Bharat so that the country could stand on its own feet and show the path to the world. He also said that the invaders destroyed temples of the country so that the "self" of India also perishes.
The Congress on Saturday accused the Centre of insulting Dr Manmohan Singh, the country's first Sikh prime minister, by carrying out his last rites at the Nigambodh Ghat instead of a designated spot that could later become his memorial.
22 images that captures glimpses of a most unusual Indian who led the nation for 10 years.
After spending nearly 50 years in a colonial bungalow at 24, Akbar Road, the Congress moved into a new office on January 15. Rasheed Kidwai, who knows the history of the Congress better than the Congress, looks back at the people who breathed life into this address.
What stood out in his 15-year journey as a member of the political executive at the Centre was his glowing record as India's most successful and effective finance minister. Both as prime minister and finance minister, he understood the importance of gradualism, except when the economy or the polity was in a crisis.
He was colourful. He was dramatic. He was The Master of His Craft. There never will be an editor as versatile as Pritish Nandy, notes Nikhil Lakshman.
Pranab Mukherjee passed away on Monday at the Army Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi at the age of 84. He was cremated on Tuesday with full state honours.
However, his son and former MP Abhijit Mukherjee said his father is showing "positive signs of improvement".
'All the big things happening today in economic development have their beginning in Dr Manmohan Singh's ideas.'
The former president was admitted to the hospital in Delhi Cantonment on August 10 and was operated the same day for removal of a clot in his brain.
National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah Tuesday asserted that there should be no "fiddling" with the mandate of people in Jammu and Kashmir, and the Centre and the Raj Bhavan must not indulge in any "machinations".
'The condition of Shri Pranab Mukherjee remains unchanged this morning, He is deeply comatose with stable vital parameters and he continues to be on ventilatory support,' a statement from the hospital said.
Many world leaders on Monday condoled the death of former president Pranab Mukherjee, saying they have lost a true friend who made immense contributions to the strengthening of India's relations with their countries.
'The condition of Shri Pranab Mukherjee remains unchanged this morning. He is deeply comatose and is being treated for respiratory infection. 'His vital parameters are stable and he continues to be on ventilatory support,' the hospital said in a statement.
'Shri Pranab Mukherjee's health condition continues to remain critical. Presently he is haemodynamically stable and on a ventilator,' a statement from the hospital said.
The former president continues to be in deep coma, the Army's Research and Referral hospital said.
Doctors attending on him said that his vital and clinical parameters are stable and he is being closely monitored.
Pranabda hasn't given us any indication of the tough period when he realised Sonia Gandhi had decided to give the presidency not to him, but to then vice-president Hamid Ansari. He wrested the presidency from her, and handed her the biggest defeat of her UPA years, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Abhijit said he was in touch with Mamata and her nephew Abhishek before the assembly polls.
Ambassador Venu Rajamony, who served as press secretary to President Pranab Mukherjee during his tenure, salutes the statesman and political legend, who passed into the ages on Monday.
Dismissing 'speculation' and 'fake news' regarding the health of Pranab Mukherjee, his son Abhijit Mukherjee said that the former President is still alive and 'haemodynamically' stable.
The 84-year-old former president was admitted to the hospital in Delhi Cantonment on August 10.
Former President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday underwent a brain surgery at the Army's Research and Referral hospital for removal of a clot.
The 84-year-old former president was admitted to the hospital on Monday and was operated upon for removal of a clot in the brain. He is also COVID-19 positive.
Shortly after former President Pranab Mukherjee passed away, leaders, including President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, paid tributes to him.
'The condition of Hon'ble Shri Pranab Mukherjee remains unchanged this morning (14 August 2020). He is under intensive care and continues to be on ventilatory support. His vital parameters are presently stable,' the hospital said in a statement.
'I want to ask the Congress only one question: What is more important than election management in politics?'
'On a visit to the hospital for a separate procedure, I have tested positive for COVID19 today,' he tweeted. 'I request the people who came in contact with me in the last week, to please self isolate and get tested for COVID-19,' Mukherjee said.
'Politics is a game of public perception and my father felt that by his long disappearances, Rahul Gandhi was losing the battle of perception.'
The long-time Congress leader and seven-time parliamentarian had tested positive for COVID-19 at the time of his admission and was being treated for a lung infection.
Pompeo said that the United States was deeply saddened to learn about the passing of Mukherjee.
From the dusty lanes of Mirati, life took the scholar politician to the imposing Rashtrapati Bhavan through a warren of powerful offices he held, but the village stuck, the bond only grew stronger.
'There was trust, but perhaps there was also this apprehension that given the supreme post of prime minister, Sonia Gandhi felt her authority may be a challenged.'
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to create history when she presents her seventh straight Budget on Tuesday for the fiscal 2024-25, surpassing the record of former prime minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman, who will turn 65 next month, was in 2019 appointed as India's first full-time woman finance minister when Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a decisive second term.
Mukherjee's family and relatives paid their last respects clad in PPE kits while conforming to COVID-19 safeguards.
Mukherjee's mortal remains were brought to his residence, 10, Rajaji Marg, earlier on Tuesday from the army hospital where he breathed his last on Monday.
The Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also observed silence for two minutes in the memory of Mukherjee.
With the tablet carefully kept inside a red cover with a golden-coloured national emblem embossed on it instead of the briefcase, Parliament will be her next destination after the call on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
The 84-year-old was admitted to the military hospital around noon on Monday, and had also tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the surgery.
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