Presidential Elections

On June 18, there were two statements from two different quarters – BJP senior leader L.K.Advani told reporters in New Delhi, “In all the Presidential elections, the most unforgettable was the one in 1969. This is at number two.” The other statement was made by Thiru V.Narayanaswamy, Union Minister of State in charge of Prime Minister’s Office, saying that DMK President Kalaignar was the first to propose the name of Thiru Pranab Mukherjee as the UPA candidate for the Presidential election in July 2012.

As veteran politician Advani said, the 1969 Presidential election was most sensational and historic, in which Kalaignar and the DMk played a crucial role.

The presidential poll of 1969 was held three years after Indira Gandhi took over as Prime Minister. During this period, Indira Gandhi had been hamstrung by her own party. She had been elevated to her office by a group of regional Congress leaders — Kamarajar, Nijalingappa, S K Patil, Atulya Ghosh, Sanjiva Reddy — collectively known as the 'Syndicate' . And they insisted on calling the shots. Worse, the party's organization had considerably atrophied .

The Congress's decline was evident in its poor performance in the general elections of 1967. Indira Gandhi was now sure that the party needed a major overhaul.

After these elections, Indira Gandhi was compelled by the Syndicate to bring in her old opponent, Morarji Desai, as deputy PM and Finance Minister . Yet she began to assert her independence, especially on economic policy, where she started charting a leftward course. The party bosses were irked. The death of President Zakir Hussain on May 3, 1969, was seen by the Syndicate as an opportunity to cut her to size.

The opening shot was fired by Kamarajar, when he quietly suggested to Indira Gandhi that she be nominated as the Congress's candidate for the presidential polls.

The Prime Minister had no desire to be kicked upstairs . But it was evident that the upcoming elections would be a crucial test of her standing in the party.

The Congress Parliamentary Board met on July 11, 1969, to discuss the candidate. The Syndicate had already decided on Sanjiva Reddy, whose affinity to them was well known. Indira Gandhi was naturally loath to do so. At the meeting, she suggested nominating the veteran Dalit leader Jagjivan Ram. When this was shot down, she asked that they postpone the decision to allow more time for arriving at a consensus. Nijalingappa, however, forced a vote in the six-member parliamentary board. Indira Gandhi was outvoted four to two.

Even as a brooding Indira Gandhi left for Bangalore, a fresh opening presented itself. The Vice-President V V Giri announced he would contest the polls as an independent candidate. Indira Gandhi knew that before she could support Giri against her own party's nominee, she would have to regain the initiative within the party. This she did first by forcing Morarji Desai out of the Cabinet and then by nationalizing banks. She also went ahead and filed the nomination for Sanjiva Reddy, though she refrained from issuing a whip to Congress MPs.

The Syndicate realized that Indira Gandhi might yet come out in support of Giri. Nijalingappa took a fatal misstep by approaching the main opposition parties, Swatantra and Jana Sangh, to cast their second preference vote for Reddy (the opposition's candidate was C D Deshmukh ). Indira Gandhi seized the opportunity to denounce Nijalingappa's move. Yet, she did not formally reveal her preference until the night before the elections, when she called on her party to 'vote according to conscience'.

V.V.Giri won the poll by a narrow margin of 14,650 votes. As neither candidate could secure the qualifying vote in the first count, the decision rested on the second preference votes.

In fact the term 'conscience vote' in Indian political parlance was the gift of that exciting and dramatic election as Indira Gandhi, caught in an intense factional fight with a group of party leaders, sought to ensure greater support for Giri.

The voting figures showed that a majority of Congress members had actually voted for Reddy. Giri had edged through with a minority of Congress votes and support from a curious combination of opposition groups - the DMK and Left parties.

The 1969 election witnessed the Election Commission introducing an innovation to ensure strict secrecy of voting by covering the serial numbers on the back of ballot papers with coloured slips.

During that election, the ballot papers were shuffled three or four times during the polling so that the agents of the candidates find it difficult to note down the serial numbers to identify votes cast by members during counting.

It was also for the first time that some MLAs were allowed to cast their votes at Parliament House in New Delhi instead of their state capitals.

Nevertheless, the election of 1969 proved to be a tipping point. Increasing numbers of Congress members realized that a showdown in the party was imminent and that the future lay with Indira Gandhi. Later that year, the Congress split and a majority of MPs stood by the PM.

Although she now led a minority government, Indira Gandhi stitched up support from the CPI, the DMK and other opposition groups. Having taken control of her party and government, she called for an early general election that she won with an unassailable majority. Indira Gandhi entered into an alliance with the DMK and secured valuable 10 MPs from Tamil Nadu only with the help of the DMK.

The presidential election of 1969, then, was not just gripping and close run but also a watershed in Indian politics. There may be intriguing parallels between that historic election and the current one. But the real question is whether the election of 2012 will mark as sharp a break in contemporary politics.

The first President Rajendra Prasad was elected in 1952 and got over 5 lakh votes out of the total of 6.05 lakh votes polled.

The second election for him was a cake walk as in 1957 he polled over 4.59 lakh votes out of the total 4.64 lakh votes.

It was a similar story when Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan became President in 1962.

However, 1967 saw a fight when Zakir Hussain got just one lakh votes more than his nearest rival Kota Subba Rao in an election where 15 other candidates were also there.

It was the political acumen of Kalaignar in extending the DMK’s unstinted support with its 25 MPs, to the progressive measures introduced then by Indira Gandhi, like nationalization of 14 banks and abolition of privy purses, that she could have a roller coaster over the reactionary forces represented by the syndicate. Kalaignar extended solid support to Indira Gandhi’s national political moves culminating in her calling for a snap poll to the Lok Sabha in 1971, although the faction of the Congress led by her had no much following in Tamil Nadu, which stayed with Kamarajar.

But in the Presidential election during the post-Emergency period during Janata Party government, the same N.Sanjeeva Reddy, who faced the disgrace of defeat in 1969 as official candidate of the Congress Party, was elected as the 6^th President of India in 1977. He was followed by Giani Zail Singh in 1982, R.Venkataraman in 1987 and Shankar Dayal Sharma in 1992.

During the United Front government during 1996-98 in which DMK was a coalition party, K.R.Narayanan, proposed by Kalaignar was elected as President. The relation between Kalaignar and K.R.Narayanan was so cordial, that in spite of his indifferent health, Narayanan obliged Kalaignar and came to Chennai to inaugurate ‘Kalaignar Karuvoolam’ in the Party headquarters Arivalayam. It was because of Narayanan’s association with Kalaignar that Jayalalitha did not pay homage in the Assembly or even issue condolence message when the distinguished former President expired in 2005. So also in the Presidential election in 2002 during the NDA rule, Kalaignar extended DMK’s support to APJ Abdul Kalam when his name suddenly emerged in the confabulation among coalition parties of the ruling alliance.

But Kalaignar’s role was pivotal and decisive during the Presidential in 2007 under UPA  rule.

Reporting on the efforts made by Kalaignar in New Delhi then to bring about a consensus on Presidential candidate of the UPA and Left parties, ‘The Hindu’, under the headline ‘Karunanidhi played a key role’ said: “Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi played a key role in the choice of Rajasthan Governor Pratibha Patil as the United Progressive Alliance’s Presidential candidate. He had extensive consultations with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Left leaders” and went on into the details.”

‘The Deccan Chronicle’ reported under the headline ‘MK played key mediatory role: “Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi emerged as the top mediator between the ruling Congress and the Left Front. ... for a consensus on the Presidential candidate. The Tamil Nadu House here remained the nerve-centre of political activity” and gave the details.”

Similar accolades were published in Tamil dailies ‘Dinamani’ and ‘Tamil Osai’ and many upcountry newspapers in English and vernacular languages.

Thus, with the press as a whole, the public of various shades of opinion and politicians of all hues acknowledging the significant role played by Kalaignar in forging a consensus between the UPA and the supporting Left parties and fielding a woman as the Presidential candidate, it became a national endorsement of his statesmanship and his stature as the most experienced and respected political leader. Announcing the candidature of Tmt. Pratibha Patil, Congress President Tmt. Sonia Gandhi said it would be a matter of great privilege for the country to have a woman President in the 60th year of Independence. “It is a matter of pride and a historic moment in the 60th year of Republic” she said. Indeed every Indian can feel proud about the democratic system and values we have as in its over 400 years of existence the USA, claiming to be the international champion of and crusader for democracy, could not have a woman as President or at least as Vice President. The credit for this phenomenal accomplishment solely belonged to Kalaignar.

For over two weeks the Congress leadership was insistent on certain names for Presidential candidature and the leaders of the Left parties, whose over 1,10,000 votes was a compelling necessity for the victory of UPA candidate in the election, conveyed their reservation and unwillingness to accept the names. The Left leaders in turn suggested the names of some leaders but the Congress leadership was reluctant to accept them as it felt that they could not be spared because their services in the government was indispensable. It could not be said there was a crisis; there was an impasse, a stalemate which needed to be broken with extraordinary diplomacy without offending either side or rock the boat of the government at the Centre. There was also the need for choosing a ‘strong candidate’ (as the Left  put it) who could take the rival fielded by the NDA and who enjoyed the confidence of all parties in the UPA and the Left parties, which were extending crucial support to the government from outside. It was then that everybody felt that the deadlock could be unlocked only by Kalaignar.

Already Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Tmt. Sonia Gandhi had asked Kalaignar to be present in the Capital on June 13, 14 and 15 to take a decision on Presidential candidate. With the persisting stalemate, CPM General Secretary Thiru Prakash Karat announced that the Left leaders were awaiting the arrival of Kalaignar to resolve the issue. All these showed the enormous confidence the leaders of all parties had reposed in him. They were not failed in their expectation and confidence. In less than 24 hours after his arrival in New Delhi on the night of February13 Kalaignar, after hectic parleys with both sides not only brought about a consensus but also was instrumental in taking the momentous decision to send a woman to Raisina Hill as President, thereby unnerving the Opposition NDA and tremendously enthusing women and progressive and democratic minded people all over the country.

That one of the aspirants for the top post Dr. Karan Singh called on Kalaignar at Tamil Nadu House with the hope of being sponsored spoke for itself on importance of the Chief Minister in choosing the Presidential candidate.

This is not the first occasion when Kalaignar played a pivotal role at the national level in a critical situation. On many occasions in the past his intervention, guidance and support were sought for by leaders of national parties in order to take crucial decisions or to find out resolution for serious problems.

Kalaignar’s role in national politics started as much back as 1969, when heading for a split in the Congress Party, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi called upon Congress legislators and Parliamentarians to exercise ‘conscience vote’ in favour of V.V.Giri (who contested as Independent) in the Presidential election against the official candidate Sanjeeva Reddy. Indira Gandhi sought the help of Kalaignar in mobilizing support for V.V.Giri and he readily obliged. Giri won the election with the support of the DMK, Left parties and some other regional parties. Later on Indira Gandhi openly acknowledged that Kalaignar was the ‘source of strength” for her at that critical period.

Kalaignar’s role was significant and noteworthy in the election of Thiru V.P. Singh as Prime Minister of the National Front government in 1989, in the choice of Thiru Deve Gowda and later Thiru I.K.Gujral as Prime Ministers of the United Front government in 1996, and in the selection of Thiru K.R.Narayanan as Presidential candidate in 1997.

Hailing the election of the first woman President, Kalaignar penned a poem on 18.6.2007 which translated in English read as:

“In a population which swells over a hundred crore;

The surging men are an equal half.

Like tiny frogs which shrink before hissing snakes;

Women who learn to appease anger and obey are the other half.

Rotting like a frond in the reeking puddle of superstition;

Women walk the Vedic path of shyness, fear, shame and ignorance.

They did not stop with saying why do women who

                        fan the fires of the kitchen need education;

They even questioned her need to live after her lord and master died.

They cleansed and charred her body in the flames of tradition;

Her lifeless statue was decorated with sindoor and flowers,

                                    And she made Devi.

Cast away ignorance,

Unveil the guile of male supremacy,

Said Periyar E.V.Ramaswamy

And our leader Anna.

Making sure their words are heard beyond the Nation – by the World.

The Capital City has glorified Bharathi’s Modern Women.

We have a woman as the President of India

From now Women’s liberation will be the

                               cherished goal of freedom.

Now also during this 13^th Presidential elections, UPA Chairperson Tmt. Sonia Gandhi first sent Defence Minister and senior Congress leader A.K.Antony, with her proposals for candidature to Kalaignar for his approval. Despite persistent queries by newspersons to Kalaignar in Chennai and DMK Parliamentary Party leader Thiru T.R.Baalu in New Delhi, they did not disclose anything about the proposals sent by the UPA Chairperson through her emissary. That is the political decency of Kalaignar. Now the Minister in charge of the PMO has disclosed that it was Kalaignar who proposed the name of Pranab Mukherjee as UPA candidate for Presidential election. But still Kalaignar has not claimed any credit for himself.

Although Kalaignar’s role in the national politics in general and in Presidential elections in particular is acclaimed by one and all, Kalaignar humbly used to say that he knew his height. Saying so, he scaled peaks of glory and acknowledged as one of the tallest leaders of the country.

There is a saying in Tamil ‘òèia¥ gh®¤J¥ óid NL ngh£L¡ bfh©ljh«’ which means, “On seeing a tiger, a cat branded fire scars on it.” Envying Kalaignar’s stature, but unaware of her ‘height’, Jayalalitha, on her own, announced that P.A.Sangma was her candidate for Presidency and appealed to all political parties in the country to extend support to him. She also contacted over phone leaders of many political parties and requested them to support her candidate. But none responded. Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh refuted Jayalalitha’s statement that the Congress ‘botched’ Presidential election and turned the table against her saying she should have known her party’s ‘numbers’ before announcing her candidate for the Presidential polls.