There’s nothing credible Opposition can say against the NDA’s surprise choice
The BJP-led NDA's choice of Ram Nath Kovind as the presidential candidate is a political master-stroke for various reasons. First, Kovind belongs to a Scheduled Caste. The BJP has carefully made its choice, keeping in mind its focus on the Scheduled Castes outreach. Second, Kovind comes from the non-Jatav sub-caste (from Uttar Pradesh), which incidentally has voted overwhelmingly for the BJP in recent elections. Besides, Uttar Pradesh is important in the BJP's scheme of things. Third, within hours after the announcement of Kovind's name, there was chaos in the Opposition camp. Suddenly the so-called unity went for a toss, though it has not collapsed completely. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar came out in personal praise of the BJP's choice, though he has for now stopped short of endorsing the candidature officially. Nitish Kumar's happiness is because Kovind, as Bihar Governor, had developed an excellent personal rapport with the Chief Minister. Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav too has hailed Kovind. On the other hand, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati could not find any reason to tick off Kovind's candidature. She expressed her support to the candidature so long as the Opposition did not put forward a Scheduled Caste candidate of its own. With all this, the Opposition is left with just three outfits — the Congress, the left and the Trinamool Congress.
The other political master-stroke is that nothing possibly can be said against Kovind personally. He has had a clean image and his track record, both as a practising lawyer in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court for 15 years, and as a Rajya Sabha member during which time he made important interventions with regard to foreign policy, and domestic issues as well, had come in for praise. In the end, therefore, the Opposition has been reduced to clutching at the straw that Kovind has an RSS background — and for this reason alone, he should be opposed. But critics forget to mention that his RSS grounding and supposed bias never came in the way of his bipartisan performance as Governor of Bihar — something that won him Nitish Kumar’s admiration. He sought cooperation and not confrontation with the elected Government; who stuck to the rules; who maintained the decorum of office. Kovind had also represented India at the United Nations and addressed the United Nations General Assembly in 2002.
Eventually, what the Opposition does in response to Kovind’s candidature will be known soon. It has two options to choose from. The first is to back the NDA choice and, therefore, have the next President of the country by consensus — which would be desirable. The second is to put up its own candidate, which it has the right to do in a democracy — and it cannot be faulted on that. In any case, the numbers as of now are stacked heavily in favour of the ruling NDA, with even certain non-NDA parties such as the AIADMK, the YSR Congress, the BJD and the TRS virtually extending their support. Additionally, others may come on board. In short, we can look forward to Kovind being the next occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan, come July.