The Prime Minister and UPA chairperson have signed the papers of Ms Pratibha Patil confirming her nomination for the Presidential elections. In the meanwhile Bhairon Singh Sekhawat has graciously announced his intention to back out as an independent candidate after Rajnath Singh of BJP supported the idea for a second term for the incumbent president Dr. Kalam.
I have been reading lots of views supporting Dr. Kalam and how Ms Patil's nomination allegedly reflects the bonanza for loyalty to the Nehru - Gandhi family. Well my view is completely different from the overwhelming response that the subject has attracted.
We all understand how Indian polity works. For the purpose of this article I would like to emphasize that Indian elections are party based elections unlike say USA which has a presidential form of elections. This means that the public chooses a party to represent them in the government and the party decides the leader of the members in parliament. The ‘leader of the Parliament’ is the Prime Minister who is the CEO of the government. He runs the country. So where does the President fit into this overall scheme of things and why is he called the “Head of the State”.
It so happened, India could not contend itself from being totally indifferent to the British legacy that it so drastically wanted to be oblivion to. So the constitution has a place for a ceremonial entity (in the realms of the monarchy of England but chosen by the electorate college comprising of elected MPs and MLAs) who has been given sexy names like ‘head of state’, ‘first citizen of India’, ‘upholder of the constitution’ and ‘supreme commander of the armed forces’ but with practically no executive power. President of India in past were indeed a ceremonial figure who were dressed properly for all occasions, acted as gracious host for other heads of state and nodded to all decisions taken by the CEO, never ever questioning them.
In my humble personal opinion it was K.R.Narayan who put on the hat of a thinking president for the first time. He moved away from the precedent of following precedents. Constitutional experts would argue that Mr. Narayan was not holding the constitutional spirit by assuming the thinking cap. But come to think of it …… In modern day Indian politics, often dictated by irresponsible smaller regional parties who hold the entire nation to ransom to fulfill their political needs, don’t me need a ‘real president’ who can rein in these selfish wishes. K.R. Narayan set a precedent of not being a rubber stamp. So active was he as a president that BJP decided to nominate Dr. Kalam, a non-political entity to the post of president for the next term hoping to return to the era of ceremonial presidents. I still remember the press conference that Dr. Kalam had after being nominated for the post of presidency and I was disappointed. He seemed to tow to the government’s line like a parrot. But utterly – butterly surprised I was at the unexpected brilliancy he reflected as the ‘people’s president’ during his tenure. No wonder he not only wore the thinking hat that Mr. Narayan had left over at Rastrapati Bhavan but went beyond that in establishing a connect with the people of India that no other president had done before. Dr. Kalam’s tenure might go down into history as one of the best presidential regime India has ever witnessed and he has set the bar even higher than what Mr. Narayan had set before him.
The same party who had nominated Dr. Kalam was not willing for a second term for him in the beginning. He himself had ruled himself out if there was no consensus amongst the political parties across the spectrum. And as the ruling UPA government fiddled with names with strong filtering by the Left, they were left with no option but to select a name whom the Left will have no objection to. With Pratibha Patil, the Congress struck chord with the Left and it was quiet obvious for the NDA that there was no hope for Mr. Bhairav Singh Sekhwat’s run as an independent candidate backed by NDA. So it ridiculously has started suggesting Dr. Kalam’s name for a second term.
Lets accept that the way elections of Indian president happens with the ruling party having an upper hand in deciding the president it will always be a choice of who can paddle along with their decision. NDAs intention of nominating Dr. Kalam was also was same reason given that he had served as National Security Advisor in Vajpayee’s government. Thus to me all the cries and hullabaloos about Ms Patil nomination as a puppet to Sonia Gandhi’s wishes is ridiculous. All parties who now and in future would nominate people who they believe can be their puppets. Whether they will or they won’t is for the history to decide.
There have been innumerable articles suggesting that Ms Gandhi is running a puppet show at the central government and now with Ms Patil’s nomination Ms Gandhi would have an unabated rule at all levels. Well if that’s so can we help it other than cribbing about it? Hell no! Well the congress party is in power, she has support of the UPA allies. She is not the Prime Minister by choice and if we disagree to the power that she wields by being the congress president, let’s throw her out in the next assembly elections but for God’s sake let not cry foul every time and for every thing.
Dr. Kalam did well and there’s no question about it. He would like to continue if there’s a consensus which with Left’s reservation against him is difficult to achieve. So let’s look forward to what’s coming to us instead of crying over split milk.
Instead of ruling out Ms Patil totally let’s sit back and look at the lady’s resume who would soon be called Madam President. She has been in public life for over three decades now. She has gone beyond the realms of politics and taken social service between her teeth as firmly as she could. She runs several institutions for education and for working women, is chairperson of a sugar factory in Jalgaon, and was institutional in setting up an industrial training centre for the blinds amongst other. Amongst the administrative roles besides the several stint as the cabinet minister in the state government, she has been the Deputy Chairman in Rajya Sabha, Chairperson - Committee of Privileges in Rajya Sabha, Member of Business Advisory Committee in Rajya Sabha, Chairman House Committee in Rajya Sabha and lately the Governor of Rajasthan.
Well if I have read enough of her she has her thinking cap on and she has all the credentials for being the President of India. I have hopes from her and I just wish my hopes are not belied. I leave you with a quote from the former president reflecting his tenure. But even if after what he felt like he could achieve what he did ...... I hope future presidents would atleast not do anything less, if not more. I am keeping my fingers crossed for the first woman President of India. I hope you do too …..
As the President of India, I had lots of experiences that were full of pain and helplessness. There were occasions when I could do nothing for people and for the nation. These experiences have pained me a lot. They have depressed me a lot. I have agonised because of the limitations of power. Power and the helplessness surrounding it are a peculiar tragedy, in fact." -
K R Narayan
