Mr Trouble Shooter

As the month of June continues in all its fury with the sun blazing and Rajasthan facing regular power cuts, it has been a heated month filled with activities both within as well outside Blue Caramel.

The most talked about activity that has taken place and in fact is still in process is the election of the President of India. As the tenure of the first woman President Smt Pratibha Devisingh Patil came to an end amid unprecedented controversies, the political parties were embroiled in a literal slug fest to elect the new President.






After Trinamool Congress(TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee and the wily Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav came to an understanding, the Congress was forced to announce the name of its most trusted lieutenant Pranab Mukherjee as its Presidential candidate despite strong opposition from the TMC chief. After the TMC backed former president APJ Abdul Kalam withdrew his name from the presidential race, the election of Pranab Mukherjee, as of now, seems to be a forgone conclusion. 

Pranab Mukherjee has been a politician par excellence for the last 4 decades and the aura that he has, has no competition in the Indian political scenario today. The well educated Pranab has had a rich experience in policy making and has held important portfolios like Home Ministry, Finance Ministry, Defence Ministry to name a few. He also shares an amazing camaraderie with business leaders, policy makers and politicians cutting across political lines and that actually makes his stature all the more creditable.

His political longevity has so many lessons for all Blue Caramelers to learn from. Some of the the things to grasp from Pranab Mukherjee are:

1) It is never too late to learn-  The erudite Pranab is an avid reader and still looks forward to grasp new things.

2) No one has ever died of hard work- Pranab at age 76 still puts in more than 16 hours a day at work.

3) Mr Trouble Shooter- Pranab, through the years, has never ever shied away from any responsibility. This has helped him develop his all round abilities and made him Mister Trouble Shooter of the Congress and the government.

4) Developing and nurturing relations- Pranab is a typical networking man. He has gradually developed and nurtured relations that have stood him in good stead..

5)   Subordination of personal goal over organisational goal-  Pranab has always kept the requirements/goals of the country or his party above his own goals. He served under Manmohan Singh, the very man whose boss he was, when Pranab was the Finance Minister and Manmohan Singh was the governor of the RBI. Another example is when Mamata demanded a special financial package for West Bengal, that would have seen him being hailed, he replied that he was a Finance Minister of India and not India, thereby provoking Mamata and TMC. 

All in all, though Pranab da might have a long list of short comings but his strengths clearly outweigh his weaknesses and these strengths are something that all Blue Caramelers should emulate.