Pranab Mukherjee, one of the longest serving parliamentarians who worked with 3 PMs

Pranab Mukherjee served in Rajya Sabha for 5 terms and in Lok Sabha twice. Most of his political life was spent as a committed Congress member.

Pranab Mukherjee in 1991. He was deputy chairman of Planning Commission at the time, and is seen here with Tamil Nadu CM, late J. Jayalalithaa, at the Planning Commission building, which is now the Niti Aayog building, in New Delhi | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

New Delhi: Pranab Mukherjee, the former President of India, died Monday evening at the Army’s Research and Referral Hospital, Delhi, after spending days in a coma. He was 84.

The veteran Congress leader had undergone brain surgery at the hospital earlier this month and had been on ventilator support since. In the pre-surgery tests, Mukherjee had tested positive for Covid-19.

His son Abhijit Mukherjee announced the news of his death on Twitter, writing: “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.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to Mukherjee, calling him a scholar par excellence and a towering statesman, along with other leaders from across party lines, including Mamata Banerjee, J.P. Nadda, Ram Vilas Paswan, Deve Gowda and K Chandrasekhar Rao.

ThePrint brings you some photographs from Mukherjee’s life.

A young Pranab Mukherjee smoking a pipe at his residence. Though he later kicked the habit, Mukherjee would always be remembered as the pipe-smoking politician | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

One of India’s youngest finance minister, Mukherjee was appointed to the post in 1982, at the age of 47 | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Mukherjee at his South Delhi residence. The veteran leader used to maintain daily diaries, and was known to be ‘the man who knew too much’. | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Pranab Mukherjee greets Congress leaders Manmohan Singh (extreme left) and Rahul Gandhi (centre right). Mukherjee could’ve become PM in 2004, but Singh eventually was given the post | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Mukherjee entered politics in 1969. Impressed with his political prowess, Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister, had helped him get elected to the Rajya Sabha on a Congress ticket that year | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

The only time Mukherjee came close to stand in for the PM was when Manmohan Singh underwent a heart bypass surgery in 2009 | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Mukherjee remained one of the most influential politicians in the Congress, the party’s crisis manager | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

He was famous for his consensus-building ability in Congress | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Pranab Mukherjee was one of the brains behind the drama at the Congress Working Committee meeting in March 1998, in which then-party president Sitaram Kesri was ousted to make way for Sonia Gandhi | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal (left), Pranab Mukherjee (centre), Manish Sisodia (behind Mukherjee) at a Shiksha event in New Delhi in 2019 | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Mukherjee with Hamid Ansari at a book launch event in New Delhi in 2019. Mukherjee served three prime ministers in his political career — Indira Gandhi, P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Mukherjee was awarded the Bharat Ratna. His over four-decade-long political career culminated on a high note in 2012, when he was appointed the 13th President of India | Praveen Jain | ThePrint