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Narendra Modi must spend more time in Parliament: Pranab Mukherjee in Memoir

New Delhi
January 6, 2021

Former President Pranab Mukherjee has written in its memoir �The Presidential Years�, which has been released after his death, that the NDA Government should have done more to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament. He also advised PM Narendra Modi to spend more time in Parliament in his second term.

�The mere physical presence of the PM in Parliament makes a tremendous difference to the functioning of this institution. PM Modi, now in his second term, must take inspiration from his predecessors and provide visible leadership, through his enhanced presence in Parliament to avoid situations that had precipitated the parliamentary crisis we witnessed in the first term,� Mukherjee wrote.

Mukherjee further wrote that he had a very cordial relationship with PM Modi and recounted his first meeting with him as PM designate. During his speech on the eve of the Republic Day in 2014, Mukherjee advocated for a decisive mandate. Later, when Modi came to meet him as PM designate, he showed him a newspaper clipping of his speech. Using a newspaper clipping that had reported my earlier speech hoping for a politically stable mandate, Modi asserted that he had achieved the objective of a clear majority that I had envisaged,� reads the book.

On GST, Mukherjee said that it has happened for the good and is the most effective economic legislation since the Constitution was enacted and institutionalized.

On demonetization, Mukherjee wrote: �One thing can be stated without fear of contradiction that the multiple objectives of demonetization to bring back black money, paralyse the operation of the black economy and facilitate a cashless society etc have not been met.�