‘Award with Pranab dual honour’
Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on Thursday praised finance minister Pranab Mukherjee saying he is like a “professor” in Parliament and it was “dual honour” for him to be clubbed with Mr Mukherjee for an award.
Mr Mukherjee and Mr Jaitley were awarded with an honorary degree by the Wolverhampton University from its Chancellor and NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul.
“In Parliament, whether he (Mr Mukherjee) has been in Opposition or the government, he is almost like a professor himself, who knows India’s politics, India’s Parliament, who knows the country and its governance almost like the back of his hand,” Mr Jaitley said as he received the award. He said Mr Mukherjee “can spell out events from the past from his memory and therefore for me to be clubbed with him is almost like a dual honour and privilege which is being conferred on me.”
Mr Jaitley also gave a call for restoring “credibility” to politics in the country, which he said “at times gets eroded”. Thanking the Wolverhampton University for choosing a senior minister and an Opposition leader together from India for conferring the degrees, he said it reflected the maturity of Indian democracy. “When I entered Parliament, he (Mr Mukherjee) was already a tall figure for more than three decades by the time. I have always believed that the competence calibre and eminence of our political leaders is also determined by the longevity of the process in which he is a part. The very fact that you managed such a long innings itself is an indication of your distinction,” Mr Jaitley said, emphasising that credibility in politics has to be stored.
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