Gurugram: Sharmitha Mukherjee, daughter of former President Pranab Mukherjee, on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “the right person to lead India” at this “critical juncture” and stressed the importance of a “stable government” for India in the context of “total geopolitical uncertainty” around the world.
Talking about the article, Sharmitha Mukherjee said, “I wrote an article which was published in many Indian and regional newspapers as well. So I shared there an insight given by my father regarding the 2014 elections and Narendra Modi ji. It was the first time in the history of the Lok Sabha elections that a new face was announced as the prime ministerial candidate.”
She said that the BJP’s dropping of Narendra Modi as the face of the Prime Minister during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections was a very “unique factor”.
“Otherwise, if you see even within the Congress as well, first there are elections, there is always an assumption, especially if the elections are led by a prime minister of the previous government, there is always an assumption that this person will be the next prime minister. But here in this case, it was a new face, and he was expected to be the prime minister. And so, it is as if it was the people who chose not just the BJP, not just Narendra Modi-ji’s party, but Narendra Modi as the prime minister. This has been a very unique thing to lead India,” she said.
“This is also unprecedented that Narendra Modi ji, a first-term MP, has entered politics and made his mark as Chief Minister of Gujarat and created that aura around him. But 2014 was his first Lok Sabha election. So this is perhaps unprecedented in the history of India for a first-term MP to enter the Parliament building as Prime Minister. So this is something unique,” Sharmitha Mukherjee said.
Recalling her father’s interaction with Prime Minister Modi after the election results, she said, “So my father told Narendra Modi when he came to see him after the elections that this mandate is not just for your party, but it is a mandate for you as well, so you have a much greater responsibility.”
Speaking about Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, Mukherjee said: “Mr. Modi has been able to provide a strong and stable government, which I think is very important, especially in today’s context when we see this whole geopolitical uncertainty across the world. So at this time it is absolutely essential for India to have a strong and stable central government and strong leadership, and I think Mr. Modi is the right person to lead India at this very critical juncture, especially keeping in mind global politics.”
She described Narendra Modi as perhaps one of the “strongest” prime ministers of post-independence India, who, according to her, was able to provide a “stable” government.
“Be it Pandit Nehru, Narendra Modi, Indira Gandhi, Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh. So you have to see it from a long perspective. Every prime minister has contributed to the task of nation building. So in my opinion, there should be no competition on who did what; no one is perfect, no government is perfect. But everyone is sincere in their efforts, everyone has taken India to a high level. This is the job of the Opposition,” he said. She added: “Don’t criticize the government, and rightly so, but again, as I said, the correct assessment comes after a distance, so I don’t want to say anything about that, but there is one thing I would like to say about Narendra Modi ji, which is that he is perhaps one of the strongest prime ministers in post-independence India, who has managed to form a strong and stable government.”
Comparing with previous coalition governments, Mukherjee said, “During UPA 1 and UPA 2, we saw that coalition politics has its ups and downs. The problem is that the coalition partners are constantly threatening the government, in some way. And you cannot take any strong political actions. So Mr. Modi has been able to provide a strong and stable government, which I think is very important, especially in today’s context when we see this whole geopolitical uncertainty across the world. So at this time, it is absolutely necessary for India to have a strong central government.” “With stable and strong leadership, I believe Mr. Modi is the right person to lead India at this very critical juncture, especially taking into account global politics.”
