Sari to Suit : what changes ?

Many congratulations to Pranab Mukherjee on becoming the 13^th resident of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, and some may with a smirk term him soon as the first citizen of a country that holds more than 1.2 billion people. Some people ask me if I am happy. The answer is two pronged and that is an unfortunate thing. Relatively, yes I am. I am personally fond of anyone who gives our current first lady some time to rest peacefully in the royal home she has been wanting post her retirement (not adequately Gandhian , is she!) . However, on an absolute scale, I am doubtful. Is it in the DNA of our Presidents to be submissive or is it to do with the (nominal) powers vested with the President. I have no degree in Pol. Science , however, it would be fantastic to see our Presidents get more involved in matters that concern the nation internally than just camouflage their foreign trips in the garb of ‘International bonding’.

The sad part about this election has been, that while preserving the democratic process of the electing the president, there have been needless and headless moves by our leading opposition party, the BJP that clearly emerges as the sole loser. While it lost the support of two of its allies, it also succumbed to its own inability to take decisions at critical times. They could not find one candidate that they could support full steam with conviction. Instead they had to ride on the back of a candidate proposed by other smaller parties (the BJD and AIADMK in this case). While PA Sangma could not stop thanking the BJP, some ghosts from the past came haunting every time he thanked them. Mr. Sangma represents the tribals and is a worthy Christian. However, the post of the President lured him so much that he unnecessarily went on song and became uneasily equivocal about the killings of Graham Staines ( a man burnt alive along with his two sons in 1999 and Bajrang Dal activist is behind bars facing the consequences )  and the Kandhmal riots.

One point I feel that political analysts have missed is the credit of the victory to the Congress, however, not in the conventional sense. In a very straight look of it, yes, the candidate the Congress fielded, won the elections and hence it’s a Congress victory. Fair enough. But is there anything beneath that also which qualifies as a win (internal) for them?  Yes, there is. With the ghosts of various corruption charges looming large on what is termed as the most corrupt government India has seen, the sycophants in the Congress party must be celebrating with an extra candle on the cake. The 2014 election is not very far and the performance of the Congress has been dismal in state elections. The only person worthy of replacing ‘an honest man of great caliber’ Manmohan Singh as the Prime minister, from the Congress, is/was Pranab Mukharjee. But the Rahul fan following in the Congress thought of an ingenious way of pleasing the veteran politician and at the same time getting way with what it wanted. Now it is clear for Rahul Gandhi, who has only ‘an eligible bachelor’ tag as credit so far to add to his political Curriculum Vitae, to become the Prime ministerial candidate of the Congress.

I hope that Mr. Mukharjee does not act as per the part lines, but more as my President who I can look upto and be proud of. An office once glorified by the presence of Rajendra Prasad and Dr. Radhakrishnan should live up to the standard that was set by these greats. I wish Five years later, people identify Mr. Mukharjee as one of the better presidents than fail to realize who the President is. It was difficult to realize this when our President wore a Sari, hopefully, with the suit, the winds of change takes our ship to a harbor of prosperity through the tranquil seas of stability.

PS - Those who need some information around what an able and willing President can do, please read Abdul Kalam's new book "Turning Points : A journey through challenges".