Unlucky ‘13’ lucky for Pranab Mukherjee

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi once said “Pranab Mukherjee was and is a source of inspiration for many contemporary politicians.”

New ‘revelation’ now on the Statesman, who flourished in the ‘rough and tumble’ of National politics for five decades, affirms that his advancement also posed ‘challenge’ to Numerology establishing the number 13 as ‘lucky’ to him.

In an interview, ahead of Mukherjee’s Presidentship, his daughter Sharmishta Mukherjee had said “The number 13 has a special significance relating to my father’s life”.

How the number 13 has come to be seen as ‘unlucky’ varies, but there is a rather unnerving amount of historical events that have likely led to the misfortune under which ‘13’ suffers.

Informatively, there were 13 people at the Last Supper, and it’s believed that Judas Iscariot - the disciple who betrayed Jesus Christ - was the 13th man to take his place at the Table.

Pope John Paul-II, also figured in among such tragic events, who was shot and nearly died on May 13, 1981.

Erasing the ‘negativity,’ connected with ‘13,’ Sharmishta had informed in that interview, that it was on July 13, 1969, when Mukherjee took oath as a Rajya Sabha MP for the first time.

She also had said that, at his residence on 13, Talkatora Road, New Delhi, Mukherjee had stayed for ten years - the period in which his political career reached its peak.

Before his swearing-in as the 13th President of the country, Sharmishta had also revealed that July 13 is also the marriage day of her parents. (UNI)