'PM Modi would always touch Baba's feet, their relationship goes back many years': Pranab Mukherjee's daughter

Former President Pranab Mukherjee's daughter Sharmishtha on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi always touched her father's feet even as he followed a different ideology. Pranab Mukherjee, a Congress veteran, was the President of India when Modi was elected Prime Minister in 2014.

Sharmishtha is coming up with a book on the former President - "Pranab, My Father: A Daughter Remembers". In her book, she talks about the equation between Prime Minister Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee. "I think that was something very strange considering their different ideologies. But, I think, the relationship goes back many years... even before Mr Modi became Gujarat Chief Minister."

Sharmishtha said that PM Modi himself told her that he used to come to Delhi then, as an ordinary party worker, for organisational works and he used to stay in the North Avenue and South Avenue area. "During their morning walks, they would come across...and Baba would always talk nicely to him and he would always touch Baba's feet," she said while speaking to NDTV.

"There is a very interesting note in Baba's diary that when Mr Modi, as Gujarat Chief Minister, came to meet the President, for the first time. Baba wrote, 'He is a bitter critic of the Congress and government policies, many a time we had a spat...but in private, he always touches my feet. He tells me it gives him pleasure. I do not understand the reason why'," she said.

Sharmishtha said PM Modi had also confirmed this, and said this was a long practice. She said the relationship between the President and the Prime Minister was that way because of her father's belief that he had a constitutional role to play and also constitutional limitation not to interfere in the governance.

"So, in the very first meeting, he very candidly told the prime minister, 'We belong to two different ideologies but the people have given you a mandate. I am not going to interfere with governance...that is your job. But if you need help in any constitutional matter, I will support you fully."

Pranab Mukherjee served as President till 2017, three years after Modi took over as Prime Minister.  

In an interview with India Today, Sharmishtha also talked about what her father thought of former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. According to her, Pranab Mukherjee said Rahul Gandhi's utterances were "politically immature". "He (Pranab Mukherjee) felt he was perhaps losing the battle of perception," she said.

The former President was also unhappy about Gandhi's frequent absence from Parliament after the party's dismal performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Sharmistha said. She said her father told a journalist that he did not have any expectations from Sonia Gandhi to make him the Prime Minister.

"In 2004, after Sonia Gandhi renounced her claim, there was media speculation about who would be the Prime Minister. The names of my father and Manmohan Singh were doing the rounds. I asked him excitedly if he would be the Prime Minister. But he said no and that Manmohan Singh would be the Prime Minister," she said.