Pranab Mukherjee, former President of India, passes away at 84

Death

Pranab Mukherjee, who tested positive for the coronavirus recently, served as the 13th President of India from the year 2012 to 2017.

PTI

Former President of India Pranab Mukherjee passed away on Monday. He was 84. The former President had undergone a brain surgery on August 10, for the removal of a blood clot, and had been diagnosed positive for the coronavirus on the same day. He had been on ventilator support and was in deep coma following his surgery.

“With a Heavy Heart , this is to inform you that my father Shri #PranabMukherjee has just passed away inspite of the best efforts of Doctors of RR Hospital & prayers ,duas & prarthanas from  people throughout India ! I thank all of You (sic),” his son Abhijit tweeted.

With a Heavy Heart , this is to inform you that my father Shri #PranabMukherjee has just passed away inspite of the best efforts of Doctors of RR Hospital & prayers ,duas & prarthanas from people throughout India !
I thank all of You
— Abhijit Mukherjee (@ABHIJIT_LS) August 31, 2020

Earlier on Monday, the Army R&R hospital, where the former President had been admitted, had issued a statement that his health had deteriorated. “”There has been a decline in the medical condition of Shri Pranab Mukherjee since yesterday. He is in septic shock due to his lung infection and is being managed by a team of specialists. He continues to be in a deep coma and on ventilator support,” the hospital had said in a statement.
Pranab Mukherjee served as India’s 13th President of India from the year 2012 to 2017. In the year 2019, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, by President Ram Nath Kovind. 
A political career spanning five decades
A member of the Indian National Congress over a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was born in the small village of Mirati in Birbhum District of West Bengal on December 11, 1935. He had a Master’s degree in history and political science as well as a degree in law from the University of Kolkata. His first political stint was successfully campaigning for an independent candidate, VK Krishna Menon, for the Midnapore by-polls in 1969 which is when he was recruited into the Congress by Indira Gandhi. He received a Congress ticket, given by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and became a Rajya Sabha member. 
From then on, Pranab Mukherjee became an integral part in Indira Gandhi’s Congress. He was appointed the nation’s Finance Minister from 1982 to 1984 in Indira’s Cabinet. He was also the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1985. After Indira Gandhi’s assassination, he had emerged as a contender to be her successor but lost out to her son Rajiv Gandhi. 
Pranab briefly parted from the party to form his own Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress, but later merged with the Congress after a consensus with Rajiv Gandhi. 
In 1991, following Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, he was made a Union Minister in PV Narasimha Rao’s Cabinet. Pranab served as the Minister for Commerce from 1993 to 1995, the Minister of External Affairs from 1995 to 1996, the Minister of Defence from 2004 to 2006 and once again the Minister of External Affairs from 2006 to 2009. He was the Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2012 till he resigned to contest the Presidential election. Mukherjee had served as the Leader of the Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2012. He also served as a member of the Congress Working Committee for 23 years.
Pranab Mukherjee was honoured with the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, in 2019 by President Ram Nath Kovind. The 84-year-old is survived by his sons Abhijit and Indrajit, and daughter Sharmistha. His wife, Suvra Mukherjee, passed away in August 2015 at the age of 74.