First Lady Mrs Suvra Mukherjee, a painter, singer and writer, passes away
New Delhi: West Bengal Governor Kesari Nath Tripathi, Delhi lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal were among those who paid their last respects at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag and Naval Chief Admiral R.K. Dhowan also offered their condolences.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “Pained to know about the passing away of Mrs Suvra Mukherjee. My condolences to Rashtrapatiji and his family in this hour of grief.” He said Suvra Mukherjee will be remembered as a lover of art, culture and music. “Her warm nature endeared her to everyone she met,” Mr Modi added.
The First Lady hailed from Jessore, now in Bangladesh, and had migrated to Kolkata at the age of 10 years. She leaves two sons Abhijit, a Congress MP, and Indrajit and daughter Sharmistha, a spokesperson of the Congress.
Mr Mukherjee married Suvra on July 13, 1957. On the eve of the crowning moment of her husband’s political career when he assumed the office of President on July 25, 2012, she had been quoted as saying, “We are not like today’s couples. It’s not a lovey-dovey relationship and we don’t express our emotions overtly.”
She founded the ‘Geetanjali Troupe’ in 1982 with a mission to propagate Tagore’s philosophy as expressed through his songs and dance-dramas.
Surva was also a highly talented painter and had also written two books — Chokher Aloey, a personal account of her close interaction with the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and Chena Achenai Chin, a travelogue recounting her visit to China.
