Pranab's wife passes away

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee's wife, Suvra Mukherjee, passed away yesterday. She was 75.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leaves for New Delhi early this morning to attend the First Lady's funeral. She is scheduled to meet her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi during her brief tour.

Suvra Mukherjee, born in Narail of Bangladesh in 1940, was admitted to the Army Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi Cantonment on August 7 with respiratory complaints.

"It is informed with deep sorrow that First Lady Smt Suvra Mukherjee passed away this morning ... She left for her heavenly abode at 10:51am," said an official statement of Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace, yesterday.

She is the first First Lady of India to die with her spouse in office.

Indian Vice President Md Hamid Ansari, PM Narendra Modi, former PM Manmohan Singh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and cabinet ministers expressed condolences as soon as the death news broke.

An accomplished Rabindra Sangeet singer and talented painter, Suvra Mukherjee last visited her ancestral home in Narail in March 2013 with her husband during the president's 3-day state visit to Bangladesh.

Before that, she visited the home along with her daughter Shormistha Mukherjee in 1995.

Suvra married Pranab Mukherjee when she was a student of history department of Kolkata University in July 1957.

President Abdul Hamid, PM Sheikh Hasina, Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Law Minister Anisul Huq and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, among others, expressed deep shock and prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed sympathy to the members of the bereaved family.

In a condolence message to Pranab Mukherjee, Hasina said: "In Bangladesh, we hold her in high esteem. We are proud that she was born in Bangladesh and fondly remember her love and affection for Bangladesh. With her demise, we've lost a great friend and well-wisher."

Hasina developed close personal relations with Suvra and others of the Mukherjee family during her years in exile in Delhi following the August 15, 1975 coup that saw her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman assassinated with most of other family members. Hasina and Rehana escaped the bloodbath as they were abroad at the time.

PM FLIES TO DELHI

Sheikh Hasina leaves Dhaka for New Delhi on a special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines at 6:00am. She will be accompanied by her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, daughter Saima Wazed Putul and Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali.

From the airport, the PM will go straight to the Rasthrapati Bhavan to meet Pranab Mukherjee at 8:40am, according to an itinerary issued by the Indian external affairs ministry last night.

From there, she will go to the house of Suvra's son Abhijit and lay a wreath on the First Lady's body at 9:00am.

Though the itinerary doesn't mention whether she will attend the funeral at the Lodhi Road crematorium at 10:00am, sources said she would.

Hasina will meet Modi at 11:30am at his official residence on Race Course Road. The two leaders had last met when Modi had paid his maiden visit to Bangladesh on June 6-7 this year.

After the meeting, she will leave for Dhaka at 3:00pm, according to the ministry itinerary.

There is speculation that Hasina might informally meet West Bengal CM Mamata, who last night arrived in Delhi from Kolkata to attend Suvra Mukherjee's funeral and cremation.