Mukherjee remembers long association with Asiatic Society

Former President Pranab Mukherjee today recalled his long association with the 233-year-old Asiatic Society, saying he had felt proud when it was declared an Institution of National Excellence in 1984.
Mukherjee said he had to 'reluctantly' sever his association on being elected the President of India but now he could renew that relation afresh.
"My personal association with this organisation goes back to early '80s not as a great scholar or indologist but being associated with an important development in the landmark institution in 1984," Mukherjee said.
He was delivering the first lecture in the memory of renowned indologist Raja Rajendralala Mitra.

"In 1984 the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had readily agreed to my suggestion to declare the Asiatic Society as an Institute of National Importance by passing an Act in Parliament," the former President said.
Mukherjee, who had held important portfolios in the union cabinet for many years, said the government had never interfered in the functioning of the institute.

"When in 2012 I filed my nomination for the post of President of India, I had to cut off my association with Asiatic society. Since the President of the republic cannot be associated with any other organisation of the country, I had to reluctantly dissociate myself," he said.

On Raja Rajendralala Mitra, Mukherjee said the 1824 born scholar "was one of the foremost scholars who paved the path of human destination in archaeolgical, cultural, numismatics and other studies".
Rajendralala, who had died in 1891, was the first modern indologist and the first Indian President of the Asiatic Society in 1885.
"He did a remarkable job in recording history," the former President said.
Mukherjee was given a stole, a set of publications of the Asiatic Society and Dr Raja Rajendralala Mitra Memorial Lecture plaque by institute's president Prof Isha Mahammad.