‘Stay safe, Hasina Aunty’: Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter as Bangladeshi leader faces exile for second time

Pranab Mukherjee's daughter’s post recalls close ties between the Mukherjee family and Sheikh Hasina during her exile in India.

“Stay safe and strong, Hasina Aunty. Tomorrow is another day. My prayers are with you” — this post on “X” by Sharmishtha Mukherjee, daughter of the former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, not only recalled the close ties between the Mukherjee family and that of Sheikh Hasina but also the last time the latter was in exile, in New Delhi.

While Ms. Hasina is said to be heading to London to seek asylum this time around, the years she spent in India, and the close personal embrace of the Mukherjee family, are brought to mind in the light of the events unfolding in Bangladesh.

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Between 1975 and 1981, Ms. Hasina stayed in New Delhi after the brutal assassination of her father Sheikh Mujibur Rehman and several other members of her family. At that time, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had sheltered the surviving members of the clan in New Delhi and tasked Pranab Mukherjee with their welfare, a task he and his wife Suvra undertook with diligence and care. Ms. Hasina referred to Suvra as “boudi” (the Bangla term for sister-in-law) and the two bonded over music, poetry and other interests. Reeling from grief, Ms. Hasina was brought into the family circle of the Mukherjees, something she held onto much after.

In 2010, on a state visit to India, Ms. Hasina broke protocol to visit Suvra at the Mukherjee residence; it was said to have made Pranab, the then Finance Minister and a stickler for protocol, uncomfortable. In 2015, Ms. Hasina met with the Mukherjee family to condole the death of Suvra. Ms. Sharmishtha Mukherjee referred to Ms. Hasina as her “guardian” after the demise of her mother.

For Ms. Hasina, twice exiled now, the situation is more political than the personal trauma of losing more than half her family to an assassin’s bullets in the 1970s. Ms. Hasina’s flight from Dhaka this time is due to the buffeting of the strong winds of popular street protests against her. In New Delhi, however, among the members of the Mukherjee family, personal ties still stand.