Pranab Mukherjee's message on Indira Gandhi for whom?

To whom was President Pranab Mukherjee sending a message? At a book release function in Delhi last week where Vice-president M Hamid Ansari released a commemorative volume on Indira Gandhi compiled by Anand Sharma, the President observed that she remained “the most acceptable PM to the people till today”. He praised her decisiveness after the 1977 electoral defeat when she was able to resurrect and rejuvenate her party in just a few months. Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi was also on the dais, and his mobile phone, which preoccupies him so much, was put aside as he listened. Was the message for him? Or was it for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who of, course, was not present?