Pranab Mukherjee

President of India

Pranab Kumar Mukherjee 11 December 1935 Mirati, Bengal Presidency, British India

31 August 2020(2020-08-31) (84) New Delhi, India

25 July 2012 – 25 July 2017

13th President of India (1935–2020) Pranab MukherjeeOfficial portrait, 201213th President of IndiaIn office 25 July 2012 – 25 July 2017Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (2012–2014) Narendra Modi (2014–2017)Vice President Mohammad Hamid AnsariPreceded by Pratibha PatilSucceeded by Ram Nath KovindMinister of FinanceIn office 24 January 2009 – 24 July 2012Prime Minister Manmohan SinghPreceded by Manmohan Singh (Acting) Succeeded by Manmohan Singh (Acting) In office 5 January 1982 – 31 December 1984Prime Minister Indira GandhiPreceded by R. VenkataramanSucceeded by V. P. SinghMinister of DefenceIn office 22 May 2004 – 26 October 2006Prime Minister Manmohan SinghPreceded by George FernandesSucceeded by A. K. AntonyMinister of External AffairsIn office 24 October 2006 – 22 May 2009Prime Minister Manmohan SinghPreceded by Manmohan Singh (Acting) Succeeded by S. M. KrishnaIn office 10 February 1995 – 16 May 1996Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha RaoPreceded by Dinesh SinghSucceeded by Sikander BakhtLeader of the Lok SabhaIn office 22 May 2004 – 26 June 2012Preceded by Atal Bihari VajpayeeSucceeded by Sushilkumar ShindeDeputy Chairman of the Planning CommissionIn office 24 June 1991 – 15 May 1996Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha RaoPreceded by Mohan DhariaSucceeded by Madhu DandavateLeader of the Rajya SabhaIn office January 1980 – 31 December 1984Preceded by K. C. PantSucceeded by V. P. SinghMember of Parliament, Lok SabhaIn office 10 May 2004 – 26 June 2012Preceded by Abul Hasnat KhanSucceeded by Abhijit MukherjeeConstituencyJangipurMember of Parliament, Rajya SabhaIn office 1 January 1969 – 1 February 2002ConstituencyVarious Personal detailsBornPranab Kumar Mukherjee (1935-12-11 ) 11 December 1935 Mirati, Bengal Presidency, British India (present-day Birbhum district, West Bengal, India)Died31 August 2020(2020-08-31) (aged 84) New Delhi, IndiaNationalityIndianPolitical partyIndian National CongressSpouse(s)Suvra Mukherjee ​ ​(m. 1957 ; died 2015 )​Children3 including, Sharmistha MukherjeeAbhijit MukherjeeAlma materUniversity of Calcutta (B.A., M.A., LL.B.)AwardsBharat Ratna (2019) Padma Vibhushan (2008)WebsiteOfficial website Nickname(s)Pranab Da Poltuda Pranab Kumar Mukherjee (Bengali pronunciation:  ( listen ) ; 11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020) was an Indian statesman who served as the 13th President of India from 2012 until 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. Prior to his election as President, Mukherjee was Union Finance Minister from 2009 to 2012. He was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 2019, by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind. Mukherjee got his break in politics in 1969 when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi helped him get elected to the Rajya 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 of India in 1982–84. He was also the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1985. Mukherjee was sidelined from Congress during the premiership of Rajiv Gandhi. Mukherjee had viewed himself and not the inexperienced Rajiv, as the rightful successor to Indira following her assassination in 1984. Mukherjee lost out in the ensuing power struggle. He formed his own party, the Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress, which merged with Congress in 1989 after reaching a consensus with Rajiv Gandhi. After Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991, Mukherjee's political career was revived when Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao appointed him Planning Commission head in 1991 and foreign minister in 1995. Following this, as elder statesman of Congress, Mukherjee was the principal architect of Sonia Gandhi's ascent to the party's presidency in 1998. When the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power in 2004, Mukherjee won a Lok Sabha (the popularly elected lower house of Parliament) seat for the first time. From then until his resignation in 2012, he held a number of key cabinet portfolios in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government – Defence (2004–06), External Affairs (2006–09), and Finance (2009–12) – apart from heading several Groups of Ministers (GoMs) and being Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha. After securing the UPA's nomination for the country's presidency in July 2012, Mukherjee comfortably defeated P. A. Sangma in the race to the Rashtrapati Bhavan (the Indian presidential residence), winning 70 percent of the electoral-college vote. In 2017, Mukherjee decided not to run for re-election and to retire from politics after leaving the presidency due to "health complications relating to old age." His term expired on 25 July 2017. He was succeeded as President by Ram Nath Kovind. In June 2018, Mukherjee became the first former President of India to address a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) event. Mukherjee with President of Nepal Bidhya Devi Bhandari