President decides to tone down protocol vocabulary

No more ‘His Excellency’. It’s going to be ‘Shri Pranab Mukherjee’. In a deliberate bid to do away with the use of colonial-era words in his protocol, the President has set in place a series of changes related to his hierarchy. HT reports

No more ‘His Excellency’. It’s going to be ‘Shri Pranab Mukherjee’. In a deliberate bid to do away with the use of colonial-era words in his protocol, the President has set in place a series of changes related to his hierarchy.

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Indian dignitaries would not be required to address him as ‘His Excellency’. “The words will be used only for interaction of leaders with foreign dignitaries and foreign dignitaries communicating with our leaders as is customary international practice,” a Rashtrapati Bhavan communiqué said on Tuesday.

Mukherjee has also decided to hold more of his functions on the Rashtrapati Bhavan premises to avoid any inconvenience to the public. The home ministry has also been informed about the decision.

Sources close to Mukherjee told HT that the political veteran was uncomfortable with the use of “His Excellency” and “Mahamahim” for quite some time now and wanted to tone down this protocol.