We Want No Caesars

The President of India looks back to look ahead at the challenges that can disrupt a democracy’s dialogues.

- Pranab Mukherjee 

My first exposure to politics was at home. My father, the late Kamada Kinkar Mukherjee, joined the Indian National Congress in response to the call of Mahatma Gandhi in 1920. A staunch nationalist, he was arrested several times by the British government during the freedom struggle. After Independence, he served as a member of the West Bengal Legislative Council for two terms.

I have many childhood memories of local Congress leaders visiting our modest house. Quite often, when the discussions extended through the day, my mother would prepare a frugal meal for them. It is hence not surprising that when I entered college, the study of politics and modern Indian history captivated me. I became involved with student politics. Through all of this, and till date, Jawaharlal Nehru was a dominant influence on me.

A Nehruvian Indian

Nehru was a politician, statesman, institution-builder and a nationalist committed to the plurality that makes India exceptional. In his thinking, only a democratic structure, which gave space to various cultural, political and socio - economic voices, could hold India together. Nehru also strongly discouraged all forms of hero worship. As early as November 1937, he had penned an article titled ‘Rashtrapati’ under a pseudonym, Chanakya, in the Modern Review of Calcutta, edited by Ramananda Chattopadhyay, accusing himself of having all the makings of a dictator, and concluded: “We want no Caesars.”

Of Human Bondage