By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi, Aug 31, 2020: The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) on August 31 expressed deep sadness over the death of former President Pranab Mukherjee earlier in the day.
Mukherjee passed away after he developed a lung infection at New Delhi’s Army’s Research and Referral hospital where he had been admitted for a brain surgery. A hospital medical bulletin earlier in the day said Mukherjee had gone into septic shock due to the lung infection. He had also tested Covid-19 positive.
Mukherjee’s death “leaves a deep void in Indian politics. The Church in India will miss him very much for his political statesmanship, moral integrity and for his fine oratorical skills,” says a message from conference president Cardinal Oswald Gracias.
The cardinal recalled that Mukerjee was the chief guest at the CBCI Annual Christmas Celebrations in December 2018, where “he impressed many with his vast knowledge of the Bible.”
“We mourn his loss and express our gratitude for all the support and encouragement he gave the Christian community and its activities. May the Almighty grant him eternal rest and comfort all his family members and those to whom he was dear,” said the message from Cardinal Gracias, one of the six advisers to Pope Francis.
Mukherjee who was 84 at the time of his death served as the 13th President of India from 2012 to 2017.
“In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the Indian National Congress and occupied several ministerial portfolios in the Government of India,” the cardinal’s message pointed out.
Mukherjee had served as the federal finance minister from 2009 to 2012.
He was awarded the Bharat Ratna (the Jewel of India), the country’s highest civilian honor in 2019 by his successor President Ram Nath Kovind.
Mukherjee got his break in politics in 1969 when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi helped him get elected to theRajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament of India, on a Congress ticket. Following a meteoric rise, he became one of Gandhi’s most trusted lieutenants and a minister in her cabinet in 1973.
Mukherjee’s service in a number of ministerial capacities culminated in his first stint as finance minister during 1982–1984. He was also the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1985.
Mukerjee headed the Planning Commission in 1991 and served as foreign minister in 1995. The elderly statesman was the principal architect of Sonia Gandhi’s ascension to the party’s presidency in 1998.
When the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance came into power in 2004, Mukherjee won a Lok Sabha seat seat for the first time.
Until his resignation in 2012, Mukherjee held a number of key cabinet portfolios in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government: Defense (2004–2006), External Affairs (2006–2009) and Finance (2009–2012).
In 2017, Mukherjee decided not to run for re-election and to retire from politics due to “health complications relating to old age.”
Cardinal Oswald Gracias is a great actor and diplomat. He washed his hands in the Mullakal matter, in the Lawrence Johnson sodomy case. Talks about saving green spaces but was instrumental in reselling my societies gardens. All these external acts have no meaning when he has no feelings for oppressed living victims. May our ex Presidents soul rest in peace.
May his soul rest in peace
What about mourning for our murdered priests and nuns who were dumped in well in kerala who accidentally stumbled on to things
They should not have seen