The election for the post of President of India will be held on July 17. There will be a straight contest between Ram Nath Kovind and Meira Kumar. It is accepted that as individuals, both the candidates have credible credentials and immense experience. While Kovind enjoys the support of the BJP led NDA and other regional outfits, Congress, left and 17 political parties are extending support to Meira Kumar.
Kovind has the magic number to win the game. Meira Kumar and her supporters are quite conscious of it; still, they leave no stone unturned for a close finish. Some quarters are of the opinion that the election should be avoided for the highest and dignified post of the President through consensus. The opinion sounds catchy, but in a vast democracy like India, consensus is far from being realized. But, contest for this post does not seem to be misplaced.
Even though, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar is on a sticky wicket of coalition politics, he has convinced himself to support Kovind. This well calculated decision of a seasoned politician like Nitish and the reason and strategy associated with this unorthodox move may act as a catalyst for paradigm change in the political prospects of India.
Apart from this, electoral contest makes the winner more accountable, conscious and pro-active. On the whole, healthy contest is a democratic template and it engenders progressive and vibrant democracy.
Some sections in the media and public domain have been highly appreciative of Modi’s political astuteness for projecting Kovind as a Presidential candidate. If it is to be accepted, in the same vein, the political monouvre of the Opposition for convincing and projecting Meira Kumar deserves appreciation. Rather, it can be construed that the Opposition has been able to out-monouvre Modi. Having said all this, it has to be analyzed what is the realization and dividend Indian democracy will have, out of this political brinkmanship. It is high time to scrutinize the commitment and perspective of politicians.
And what is the outcomeIJ The outcome is that the President of India is being looked upon as a Dalit. Both the candidates are being presented to the electorate not as statesmen or mass leaders, but as Dalit leaders.
What provides food for discussion and debate is that, beyond their personality and performance as individuals and political entities,their Dalit identity is being emphasized. Media has been extremely vocal of this identity. But a question crops up in the mind – Are they really DalitsIJ Seventy years have passed after the Indian Independence. It has become mature enough to engage itself in a sensitive issue like this. Those in the helm of affairs must prepare themselves to summon up courage and will to address this issue, as it carries significance. It has become contingent because, truth, however hard and bitter that may be, can never be covered up. If we make attempts to hide the truth, the result shall be disastrous and debilitating.
A common sense will tell us that Kovind and Meira are not Dalits. Are we not demeaning and denigrating their personal achievements and capacity by projecting them before the public as Dalit leadersIJ It seems they are the beneficiaries of our pity. Are we recognizing them as leaders of country or are we, with a concerted mission, trying to undermine their public image by bracketing them as Dalit leadersIJ Strange is the fact that even Kovind and Meira reciprocate the posture of Dalit leader without any scruple. It seems they don’t feel it proper to be immune from this political-ignoble posture. How long our nation will be enduring this sort of pretension and hypocrisyIJ How long India will be carrying this unethical and irrational baggageIJ How long this race, called the Indian race, will be the helpless dice in the chess game of caste, religion and communityIJ An unprecedented political climate has been created by the political parties in this presidential election, which will compel the conscientious citizens to realize the reality and see through the game plan of the political parties, their stance and strategy. At least this election has given us an opportunity to scan the electoral politics of the political parties of India and peruse the nationalistic conscience of Kovinds and Meiras.
Meira Kumar, the daughter of a great socialist leader Jagatjivan Ram, who became the first labour Minister in 1946 in the interim Government led by Neheru, is an IFS officer, who has served with efficiency in different countries, elected to the lok Sabha five times, conferred with the berth of a Union Minister twice and credited as the first woman Speaker of lok Sabha. Kovind, who has a long experience of legal practice, has been elected to the Rajya Sabha twice and has been bestowed with the post of Governor of Bihar. The conscientious citizens of the country are faced with a pertinent question. Are Meira and Kovind DalitsIJ How long they will be regarded as such and for how many generationsIJ Will there be no time, when they will be immune and transformed from this Dalit identityIJ What is the definition and determinant of a DalitIJ If, on the basis of the prevalent political matrix, the likes of Meira and Kovind are still branded as Dalits along with their siblings and future offspring, then, it can be concluded that, the Dalit concept is against nation building and national unity, the greatest stumbling block in the path of social progress and amity. It is the call of the hour, and so to say, a national duty to take on the challenge and dismantle this apparatus manufactured with an evil design.
Is Dalit an identity associated with caste or an insignia of social and economic status for an individualIJ In the pretext of “Dalit” and reservation, we have been playing a dangerous game, which is and will be explosive. Willy-nilly, we have been trying to put the stamp of Dalit upon the individuals of certain castes. As a result, our social life, which has already prepared itself to do away with the diabolic caste system and casteist antagonism, has been constrained to sustain this ignoble system for vote-politics. Our social life and its fabric is being destabilized for this.
On July 5 and 6, BJP national president Amit Saha and some top BJP leaders had sumptuous meals served on banana leaves in the houses of a Dalit in Odisha. The nation should know what is the motif behind thisIJ
The motif is to inflame the heinous casteism.
We don’t demand for the overnight scrapping of reservation in any form. But let there be political and intellectual rethinking on it and the policy of ‘Carrying coal to the Newcastle’ be put to an end.
Nobody can contest the argument that in a welfare State, there is exigency of reservation for social uplift of the downtrodden who have been oppressed for long due to social and financial constraints. But do the likes of Meira and Kovind come in this category and bracketIJ