New Delhi: Former President Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit said Tuesday that the family would have considered taking his mortal remains to West Bengal. The last rites would have been done in West Bengal if the COVID-19 restrictions were not in place. Abhijeet said the cremation of the former president could not be attended by many because of the COVID-19 situation. “We would have considered taking his mortal remains for last rites to West Bengal. This is because relatives and many who are associated with our family live there,” Abhijit said.
Some members of Mukherjee’s family and relatives were present during the cremation at the Lodhi Road electric crematorium. They paid their last respects clad in PPE kits while conforming to COVID-19 safeguards.
“Many people wanted to attend his cremation, but it was not possible due to the COVID-19 situation. We thank all the people who stood with us during this hour of grief,” he said.
Abhijit called his father a ‘born soldier’ who always fought the odds whether as a student, lawyer or a politician. “When I contested the Assembly polls in 2011, he advised me never to hold any grudge or feeling of revenge against anyone,” Abhijit said. “He always said lawmakers should not be lawbreakers,” he added.
A few Congress workers and some well wishers of the former president were also present at his cremation.
“My father Devendra Prasad Yadav and ‘Pranab da’ had gone to college together. They had served as ministers together as well at the Centre,” said Yadav’s son Brijendu Yadav. He was present at the crematorium along with his sisters Jaishree and Shubhra. Former Union minister and senior Congress leader from Bihar, Devendra, died last month due to a heart ailment.
“We have almost five-decades-long relations with the Mukherjee family. I even campaigned for Pranab da when he contested the Lok Sabha election from Jangipur seat in 2009,” Brijendu said.
Retired IPS officer SS Sandhu recalled his long association with Mukherjee. “He was very down to earth. I had close relations with him that lasted for four decades. I served under him when he was the finance minister of the country,” Sandhu said.
Abhijit also said he plans to convert one floor of their house in West Bengal’s Jangipur into a museum-cum-library. Jangipur is constituency from which Mukherjee was elected twice on a Congress ticket to the Lok Sabha in 2004 and 2009. The museum would be in memory of the departed leader.
Abhijit also said he would like the government to issue a postage stamp in honour of his father. “A postal stamp I request… If the government agrees, I will be very happy,” he said. And on personal side, I am planning to convert the first floor or the ground floor of the house my father constructed at Jangipur into a museum-cum-library. I will gather his personal belongings, particularly the vast number of books, gift items like plaques and put them into that museum,” he added.
Abhijit, however, rued his father could never stay in that house for longer durations. “By the time the house was constructed, he had gone to a bigger house, the President’s House,” he said. Abhijit remembered he had brought a jackfruit for his father August 4 from their farm in Jangipur.
“Jackfruit is available in Delhi, too, but I took all the pain… because that’s from our field. I travelled by a train and brought him one,” the former Jangipur MP said. “My father ate it. Fortunately, his blood sugar level remained in control. I am happy I could at least fulfil this wish of my father,” he added.