The people’s president

Pranab Mukherjee open the doors of Rashtrapati Bhavan to the common man

PTI7_2_2014_000191B Welcoming persona: Mukherjee receiving the first copy of the coffee-table book First Citizen from former Union minister Karan Singh and Philip Mathew, editor, THE WEEK, at Rashtrapati Bhavan in 2014.

Pranab Mukherjee’s official set of wheels as president was a gleaming black Mercedes-Benz S600 Pullman Guard. The bullet-proof vehicle had a mini-fridge, a television and seats with massage functionality. But Mukherjee never abandoned his trusty, white Ambassador. The car with a red beacon and West Bengal number plates had a special place in the presidential garage.

When his car glided across Delhi roads at top speed, Mukherjee would just read. And, reading really was at the heart of his presidential sojourn. If A.P.J. Abdul Kalam made the Rashtrapati Bhavan more democratic, Mukherjee threw open libraries.

A few months after taking over as president, he went to see the library in the presidential estate. One of the most beautiful rooms designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, it had a fireplace and was adorned by the intricate bright yellow mosaic of Jaisalmer. But it was being used as a store at the time. Mukherjee ordered its restoration and also took the lead in recovering and rediscovering the books in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. One of them, in fact, dated back to the days of Lord Curzon.

The Pranab Mukherjee Public Library was opened within the first two years of his tenure, with a special section for children. The idea was to fight the challenges of the internet and television. But he also embraced technology and had the books digitised.

History was not something Mukherjee took lightly. He recorded it, restored it, encouraged scholarship and relished it. The president was a daily diary writer, and his discipline seeped down the ranks. Almost all officers of the president’s secretariat took to writing. And, Mukherjee was the first president to pen his memoirs—he did it in four parts.

Mukherjee was also meticulous about documentation. For the first time after the Lutyens period, an inventory of furniture, artefacts, books, textiles, paintings and even banquets of the past was prepared. He commissioned splendidly produced books in what could easily be the first formal documentation of the Rashtrapati Bhavan since independence.

The effort revealed quite a few interesting details about certain high-profile visits to the presidential palace such as the state of Bombay waiving prohibition in 1954 to allow Yugoslav president Marshal Josip Broz Tito to savour his favourite slivovitz on the train journey from Bombay to Delhi, the story of Chinese leader Zhou Enlai getting dussehri mangoes secretly loaded on his aircraft or how milk for Queen Elizabeth was brought daily from Bharatpur during her visit.

More than just providing nuggets of history, Mukherjee ensured that it enjoyed pride of place during his tenure as president. His speeches were peppered with quotes from Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda. Mahatma Gandhi and former president S. Radhakrishnan, too, were his favourites. Apart from libraries, he also set up museums and donated his famous collection of pipes to one of the museums. He restored the Durbar Hall and the guest wing.

He also used the past to demonstrate how powerful a tool it was to cement relations. When the Japanese emperor Akihito and empress Michiko came on a visit in 2013, a video clip of their 1960 visit to India as crown prince and princess when they were on their honeymoon was dug up to welcome them. He also took steps to rediscover and restore the Rashtrapati Bhavan’s visual archives. Mukherjee revived the presidential tradition of using the six-horse, gold-plated buggy to travel to the Beating Retreat ceremony, braving Delhi’s chilly January weather.

He welcomed writers, artists and scholars. Amitav Ghosh once spent a few days as writer-in-residence at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. A true lover of classical arts, Mukherjee encouraged art in every form. He often asked the naval band to play something less cerebral like the yodelling Kishore Kumar. But, of course, his favourite song was “Ekla chalo re”.

He was up at 5am every day and would leave for his morning walk by 5:30. He came back and read. He travelled widely. He broke the rules of ‘At Home’ receptions, choosing to mingle with his guests rather than remaining aloof. And he will forever be remembered for throwing open the doors of the Rashtrapati Bhavan to let people gaze at the marvel. He loved durbars, and would likely be regaling everyone with his endless collection of anecdotes now, wherever he is.