Immediate And Ultimate!

While maintaining that the concept of a separate Tamil Eelam is still there, DMK President and TESO Chairman Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi has said the immediate priority was to discuss and take stress to ensure right to life and improve livelihood of Tamils in Sri Lanka to mitigate their sufferings.

What are the conditions under which the remaining Tamils in Sri Lanka are living now?

A journalist of Washington Post has confirmed that a state of emergency like situation is prevailing in north of Sri Lanka.

In a feature published on July 6 in the Washington Post, Simon Denyer has reported from Jaffna: "Today, without any fighting to do, soldiers attend meetings at Hindu temples and functions at primary schools. The military has inserted itself into almost every aspect of economic life in the north of the country - farming and selling vegetables, running hotels, restaurants and even barbershops."

In the report, he painted a picture of how Sri Lankan military is interfering in every spheres of life in north-Tamils' homeland, where land grabbing by Sinhala military, harassing Tamil civilians, curbing the right to assembly and even forcibly intervening in public functions have become order of the day.

The full article titled "Abuse by Sri Lanka's army rubs salt in wounds of war, Tamil women say" follows:

In the final days of Sri Lanka's civil war, as the army closed in for the kill against Tamil Tiger rebels, tens of thousands of civilians cowered in the crossfire.

"The children were crying because they were so hungry, so when we heard congee in coconut soup was being given out, we let them leave the bunker where we were sheltering," a 35-year-old woman from the northern district of Thunukkai recalled recently. "Then the army bombed the place. Most of the kids were killed on the spot, including my son."

Three years have passed since the end of the war. But for members of the Tamil minority of northern Sri Lanka - who suffered a heavy civilian death toll during the three-decade conflict, and years of fear and oppression when the Tigers controlled the area - the peace has been a painful disappointment.

Gathering in a spot that they judged safe enough to speak freely, a group of Tamil women recounted the daily humiliation of life under the victorious Sri Lankan army - almost exclusively made up of ethnic Sinhalese Buddhists.

Twice a month, the women said, soldiers enter their homes to photograph everyone. Permission from the military is required for even the smallest gathering or just to collect firewood in the nearby forest.

"I even have to go and ask someone for permission to have a birthday party for my daughter in my own home," said a 46-year-old mother of six from the Kandavalai area. Like the others, she spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearful that revealing their names could endanger their lives. "And if they say no, I am not going to have a party for my 8-year-old daughter in my own house."

The women described how they were forced or tricked to attend demonstrations in support of the government and against its foreign critics. One said villagers were not allowed to light a single prayer candle in their local church, because the army suspected them of trying to honor dead Tamil Tiger fighters buried nearby.

Another woman complained about soldiers turning up in her kitchen and demanding a cup of coffee. "We are scared," said the mother of six. "More than that, I am frustrated, I am angry. It is a feeling you cannot describe."

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were ostensibly established in 1976 to defend the rights of Sri Lanka's Hindu and Christian Tamils. But the group ended up ruling huge swaths of northern and eastern Sri Lanka for more than two decades through violence and fear, forcibly recruiting children as soldiers, executing opponents and using suicide bombers as part of their campaign of terrorism.

The United Nations has called for an investigation into the final stages of the civil war, accusing the Tigers of using civilians as human shields but also accusing the army of indiscriminate shelling and of denying civilians access to humanitarian aid. It estimates that 40,000 innocent people may have died.

Today, without any fighting to do, soldiers attend meetings at Hindu temples and functions at primary schools. The military has inserted itself into almost every aspect of economic life in the north of the country - farming and selling vegetables, running hotels, restaurants and even barbershops.

Tamils feel as if they are living under an army of occupation, said Father S.M. Praveen, who runs the Center for Peace and Reconciliation in the northern town of Jaffna. "It is like an open prison," he said. "The military decides everything."

Praveen said intimidation has increased since March, when the United States sponsored a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution calling on the Sri Lankans to promote postwar reconciliation.

Four of his workers, who were documenting alleged human rights abuses and land grabs by the army, received death threats or were attacked by thugs who threw oil on them, the latest method of intimidating those who criticize the government or army. All four have been forced into hiding, he said.

The government says it is pouring money into northern Sri Lanka, building roads, hotels and schools, and even promoting tourism there. Time and money, it says, will heal the wounds of war.

"We have not neglected development," said Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella. "In fact, we get so many complaints from the south that all the funds are going to the north."

It is not an argument that impresses many Tamils, who complain that they are excluded from decision making as well as from the profits that flow from development projects. Better roads, they say, are only being built so the army can move around more quickly, while reconciliation among the island's communities will be built not by roads and hotels but by promoting justice and accountability.

The army has grabbed vast expanses in the north, either to set up military bases, farm for profit or, many Tamils fear, resettle Sinhalese from the south and change the demographics. The construction of Buddhist monuments where no Buddhists live reinforces those fears.

Late last month, the Sri Lankan government announced that it would hold provincial elections around the country except in the Tamil-dominated north. It says electoral rolls are not ready there after the extensive disruption of the war, even though presidential, parliamentary and local government elections have taken place since then.

But Tamil politicians from the north say the government is unwilling to hand over political rights to areas where Tamils are in the majority."As far as reconciliation is concerned," said Suresh Premachandran, a member of parliament for the Tamil National Alliance, "the war is over, but still the conflict is alive."

 While certain loudmouthed ‘liberators’ here accuse the UPA government of doing nothing for Lankan Tamils, what is the perspective of the Rajapaksa regime and Sinhalese about New Delhi’s moves had been brought out by Bibhu Prasad Routray, former Deputy Director in the National Security Council Secretariat in an article in ‘The New Indian Express’ on July 15 in an article under the heading ‘Growing Hostility in Colombo: New Delhi’s New Challenge which is as follows:

In recent times, Sri Lanka has radiated unnerving resentment at India’s attempts to secure the rights of the Tamil civilian population, victims of the Eelam war that vanquished the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

At one level, New Delhi is building pressure on Colombo not to take the bilateral relations for granted. National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon reportedly conveyed this during his June 29 trip to the country. Apart from being an influential neighbour, India is also the member of United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) troika, which is scheduled to take up Colombo’s human rights compliance record in November. So Colombo is obligated not to displease New Delhi, which has already voted against it in the UNHRC in March 2012.

At the other level, India’s pressure diplomacy is on a weak footing. For the Mahinda Rajpaksa government, victory in the Eelam war that ended three years ago remains its only achievement. Even as the economic condition of the country has worsened and governance capacities weakened, official effort at projecting the President as a saviour of Sinhalas has continued.

Apparently, such a project runs counter to India’s push for the implementation of the 13th Amendment  and the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and elections for the provincial councils. Not surprisingly, the Rajapaksa government has not moved beyond its ‘commitment’ to the above demands. Issues like the resettlement of the internally displaced population and a genuine reconciliation programme have progressed at an unacceptable pace.

Add to this, India’s own aid programmes in the past two years in Sri Lanka— $50 million under lines of credit and another $350 million under grants-in-aid — has not impressed the Tamils as well. They allege that whereas Colombo has vigorously pursued a programme of land grabbing and settling Sinhala civilians and the army in what used to be Tamil territories, the Indian projects such as building houses for displaced Tamils have progressed lethargically.

Quite apparently, the Indian ‘pressure tactic’ is loathed by the Sinhalas, if the July 9 editorial of the Sunday Times newspaper is any indication. “The Government seems to have got trapped in a comment the President made to India that he would implement the 13th Amendment and even go further (13 plus). He said this initially to get Indian support to defeat the LTTE on the battlefield. Now, the Indians, like the dog with the bone, will not let go,” the editorial read. It went on to allege that “India would like to have an elected” Northern Provincial Council as “an ideal satellite province on Sri Lankan soil—‘an unsinkable aircraft carrier’ on India’s southern border.”

New Delhi has obvious reasons to worry. There has not been an opinion poll reflecting India’s image in Sri Lanka. But the reaction one gathers from the letters written to the editors of different newspapers and websites, the image isn’t much different from what the people of Pakistan think of the Americans—both among the Sinhalas and the Tamils.

In Sri Lanka, India’s problem is unique in terms of finding an effective vehicle for implementation of its projects for the Tamils. While the ruling regime’s negative approach to the reconciliation and rehabilitation process is quite clear, the mainstream opposition too does not provide an alternative. Take the case of former army chief Sarath Fonseka. After being released from prison, he has assumed the role of an opposition figurehead and has called for an Arab Spring in Sri Lanka to oust the Rajapaksa regime. Fonseka’s denial of human rights violations during the Eelam war is more virulent than the Rajpakasa regime. He, in fact, accuses the government of not having forcefully conveyed this to the international community.

Within days of Menon’s return from Colombo, President Rajapaksa gathered the Sri Lankan diplomats in a workshop. Referring to the “changing functions of diplomacy” in view of the campaign by Tamil diaspora in the West, the President called upon the diplomats to have a “readiness, willingness and capability” to “persuade others about the needs of Sri Lanka”. The message of “no change” Colombo is trying to deliver to the world is obvious.

For New Delhi, there can be no alternative to a policy of sustained engagement with the Rajapaksa regime. Appointment of a special envoy on Sri Lanka is not a bad idea for the Prime Minister’s Office to consider.

Even ‘The Hindu’ in an editorial on 13^th July under headline ‘Distant Thunder’ stated:

“In remarks to this newspaper, President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka has said the elections to the country’s Northern provincial council will be held only in September 2013 because the government needs time to update 30-year-old electoral rolls. The explanation for the delay is intriguing. Three other elections have been held since the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009 — presidential elections in January 2010; parliamentary elections in April 2010; and elections to local bodies in 2011. Northern province voters participated in all three. The old voters’ list was apparently not a problem then; nor was the rehabilitation and resettlement process, the other reason Mr. Rajapaksa has given for putting off elections. The Tamil National Alliance, which roundly won the local bodies elections, suspects the delay has to do with fears that it might sweep the provincial council elections too. There is no question about the need for a political process in the Northern province, comprising five districts that bore the maximum impact of the conflict — Jaffna, Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya and Mannar. A provincial government headed by a chief minister has some powers devolved to it under the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution. Irrespective of who wins, the arrangement could assist in restoring normality to the region by giving it a civilian, democratic political face.

In fact, the Northern provincial council elections should have been held soon after the war ended to signal the government’s seriousness about finding a political solution to secure the peace. Instead, more than three years later, the North is still in the grip of the military, and going by Mr. Rajapaksa’s statement, another 14 months must pass before it can elect its provincial government. Meanwhile, three other councils, including in the Eastern province, whose terms were to end only in 2013, have been dissolved ahead of time, and fresh elections scheduled for September this year. If, as President Rajapaksa has said, elections in the Northern province are to be held next year, he must start thinking about scaling down troops in the region in the interests of a free and fair election. Every nation has a right to decide its security needs. Even assuming Sri Lanka is right in its perception of an ominous comeback plan by the LTTE, the troops to people ratio in Tamil areas is high, compared to say, in Jammu & Kashmir, where a majority of the security forces are deployed against an external threat. Given its numbers in northern Sri Lanka, it is no surprise that the military is seen as overly intrusive in daily life. In order to be taken seriously, the Sri Lankan President also needs to make a formal announcement soon about his intended schedule for the election.”

In Sri Lanka, while the ruling regime’s negative approach to the reconciliation and rehabilitation process is clear, the mainstream opposition too does not provide an alternative. One the one side Tamils are slowly decimated on the other side there are concerted moves to redistribute demographic pattern, so as to make a Malaysia of Sri Lanka, by doing away with Tamil concentrations. Already the regime has achieved it in the Eastern province and now attempt the design in the Northern province.

So the immediate task is to safeguard the remaining Tamils and their traditional areas of living from encroachment of Sinhalese, without accomplishing which the ultimate goal of Tamil Eelam will remain only as a mirage. Hence the agenda of the August 12 TESO conference!

Demoralised officials!

 

It is reported that large number of IAS officials are trying to go on deputation to Central services as they feel they could not independently work in any department in the state government where they face crisis after crisis and intervention of ruling party legislators and functionaries besides, of course ministers. But when things go wrong and get exposed in the media, invariably they are made scapegoats to cover up the frauds and irregularities of ministers, ADMK MLAs and functionaries.

A typical case in point is the Mass Wedding fiasco at Tiruverkadu on June 18 in which Jayalalitha solemnized wedding of 1006 couples selected from many districts, for which six officials were made scapegoats after gaffe at the government function came to light.

The controversy brewed over the mass marriage conducted by the state government on June 18 at Tiruverkadu with reports emerging that many already married couples got remarried on the occasion with their children playing curious witnesses. Certain weeklies published the photographs of such couples with their children.

While the participants had obviously lined up to receive the free 4g gold mangalsutra and other aid given by the government, the officials had taken it lightly in their eagerness to show a large crowd before the Chief Minister, as directed by the minister concerned. As a fallout, five officials of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department and a police inspector have been suspended for the gaffe. The HR&CE commissioner, an IAS officer, has been put on compulsory wait, which is deemed as suspension in official circles.

The marriages of 1,006 couples from poor families were conducted at Tiruverkadu, for which the beneficiaries were chosen from various places across the state. Chief minister Jayalalitha, HR&CE minister M S M Anandan, Chief Secretary Debendranath Sarangi and other ministers and officials were present on the occasion. Based on reports in a Tamil magazine that already married people got remarried on the occasion, the government swung into action and initiated disciplinary action against its officials.

The list of beneficiaries included 11 differently abled couples,611 couples belonging to the Adi Dravidar community,34 from scheduled tribes,183 couples from most backward classes,132 from backward classes and 46 from other categories. Chennai police commissioner J K Tripathy placed Saidapet police inspector N S Kumar under suspension for issuing a certificate (first time marriage) to a ragpicker couple, who were among the beneficiaries at the mass marriage. The couple came to the venue with their child. Police said the couple were staying together and had a child also. In an attempt to formalize their marriage, they registered themselves for the mass marriage.

Similarly, the fiasco over letting out the Anna Centenary Library auditorium for a marriage reception earlier has cost two employees in the State Information Department their jobs. A deputy director, O L Ravindran, who was in charge of memorials, and a public relations officer (PRO), P Murugesan, have been relieved of their duties. While the order relieving Ravindran from duty was issued on July 4, Murugesan was transferred to Tirunelveli corporation on July 10. He was also relieved from his duty at Anna Library the same day. But instructions were later given to the corporation not to permit him to join duty there. In effect, both the officials are under suspension, though there is no formal order. Both have been charged with dereliction of duty.

Interestingly, senior officials who had significant roles to play have gone scot free. "The order letting out the building was signed by an IAS officer with the full knowledge of another senior IAS officer. But once the matter was dragged to the court after media reported misuse of premises, the two IAS officials, who are close to the Chief Minister's office, found two scapegoats to save their own skin," said an official. The first bench of the High Court had ordered on July 2 that the library should not be rented out for other purposes. It also ordered that the government should return any advance, if collected.

All of a sudden in a single day the Secretary of Tourism department and the Commissioner were transferred. It is said the State government received Rs.450 crore aid for tourism department through Asian Development Bank. Both these officials had taken some decisions after consultations for attracting tourists to TN. This information had reached an official in Secretariat, who is said to be the power centre. This official is reported to have sent another to the department to go through the files and report back to him. Displeased with the two senior officials working on their own, they were reported to have been transferred by the power centre.

The recent appointment in the vacancies of nutritious meal and Anganwadi workers in districts was another reason for heart burn among district collectors, who had to post eligible candidates according to norms in the face of competitive claims from local ministers, MLAs and ADMK district secretaries. The Virudhunagar District collector who resorted to transparent and foolproof selection and released the list of selected candidates online much to the chagrin of local ministers and ADMK leaders and appreciation of people, was immediately transferred and kept on waiting list. Similarly Madurai district collector Sahayam, who was praised for his actions last year by the ADMK regime, was unceremoniously shifted out for telling the media that he would initiate action against the fake godman making news, if he gets complaints.

The worst victim of the gagging of officials by the Jayalalitha regime was the Commissioner of Welfare of the Differently Abled persons, P.R.Sampath, who conceded rampant corruption in his department and said he could not take action lest there would be none left in the department. This confession which was tacitly recorded by a TV reporter when the official was conversing with a group of differently abled persons, was telecast by ‘Times Now’ TV channel.

Following this incident a gag order has been issued by the ADMK government to officials of the government departments at all levels. They have been directed not to speak anything to media persons. Some months back a DSP Dharmarajan was transferred for openly speaking about sand looting.

Writing about the present condition of Tamil Nadu under the dispensation of Jaya regime ‘India Today’ weekly states: “To work as a journalist in Tamil Nadu will only be a curse and punishment for a journalist with self-respect. In the whole of India, the only state without official spokespersons for the state government and the ruling party is Tamil Nadu. It is very very rarely that ministers and officials speak to the media, for which also many a times the journalists have to pay a big price. Good or bad, learning the views of the government and ruling party and register the views of all sides in the reports filed by him is a daunting task for a scribe. Because almost no official is prepared to share with media even information about their departments.”

Speaking about the present condition in Tamil Nadu retired Chief Secretary of Haryana government M.G.Devasahayam has said, “IAS and IPS officials are bound by All India Conduct Rules. But being servants of people, how can they keep their mouths shut when huge corruption takes place. It is different not to criticize the government and keeping mum when mistakes take place. Situation worse than Emergency period prevails in Tamil Nadu.”

What is the respect that even senior IAS and IPS officials are given by Jayalalitha can be seen from the very photographs released by the government- officials standing obediently with their hands folded across or sitting on the edge of chairs. They can be compared similar photographs with Kalaignar when he was the Chief Minister in which officials would be seen attentive but relaxed.

After all Jayalalitha had openly declared in the Assembly that like ring master in circus she was getting the work done by whipping officials. Alas, in the ADMK regime - circus, the ring master and wild animals are interchanged!

Wantonly discrediting Presidential Election

Ever since the 13^th Presidential election process started and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), ruling at the Centre named its candidate, not a single day passes without the loquacious functionaries of the BJP, the gossipy Subramanian Swamy and their chatterbox candidate P.A.Sangma vilifying the UPA candidate Thiru Pranab Mukherjee and thus wantonly discrediting and trivializing the election to the highest and honourable office in the country.

This may probably be the first time in the history of Presidential elections that an ambitious and disgruntled politician thrust himself as the candidate of opposition, faute de mieux, at first sponsored by political lightweights in national politics, the Chief Ministers of Orissa and Tamil Nadu. Not to be undone the irrepressible Chief Minister of West Bengal, who like her Tamil Nadu counterpart could not reconcile to any other taller political leader from the state, floated her own list of probables among whom one was improbable, the other gracefully excused himself immediately and the last waited for some days hoping to muster support and finally gave up as in the story of the fox and sour grapes. In the meanwhile, immediately after the UPA announced its candidate for the election, parties outside the UPA like the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party and parties opposing the UPA like the Shiv Sena and Janata Dal (U) from the BJP-led NDA and the CPM and Forward Bloc from the Left parties and even some influential leaders of the BJP like Maneka Gandhi and B.S. Yeddyurappa of Karnataka extended their support to the UPA candidate, thus ensuring his victory with a very comfortable margin.

With all his past records, Purno Agitok Sangma himself trivialized the dignity of the Presidential election by proposing himself  as the first ‘tribal candidate’ arguing “Muslim, Sikh, Scheduled castes and a woman have all occupied this seat. So why shouldn’t a tribal?” hoping that people would have forgotten that all those persons were sponsored by others and not projected themselves cheaply as if for a panchayat ward, like him. Many would recall that during the late nineties when the Lok Sabha would plunge in chaos, the Chair of the Speaker would actually be smiling. Only much later that Speaker P.A.Sangma shared the secret; he said he would now slip in pages of his favourite Tom and Jerry and read the comic book while the members were fighting. From the manner he carries out his campaign in states and his utterances, regretfully are reflective of his penchant for comic books. What else can be said about his comment, “If Barak Obama a black, can become US President of USA, why not me, a tribal?” making no distinction between an executive President elected directly by people and a nominal President elected by an electoral college of legislators in a Parliamentary democracy.

Moreover, Sangma’s claim that a tribal should get a chance does not carry conviction as he himself had opposed the candidature of fellow tribal G.G.Swell  in the nineties. That he did nothing for the welfare and progress of tribals whenever he was in power as pointed out by Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma saying that ‘P.A.Sangma can’t behave like a rogue element.’

There is a phrase in Tamil, ‘சேர்க்கை தோஷம்’ which means the ‘malignant influence of the companion.’ Was it not Jayalalitha, thinking that she can also emerge as ‘king maker’ rivaling Kalaignar, who proposed the candidature of Sangma and spoke to other leaders of parties like L.K.Advani, Prakash Karat and A.B.Bardhan and none of them, responded positively. People would not have forgotten that Jayalalitha had the temerity to disown her own signatures on the documents relating to TANSI land purchase in the court only to be proved a lie by forensic verification. So the candidate proposed by her also contended that the signature of Pranab Mukherjee on his resignation letter to Indian Statistical Institute was not his.

Unable to muster support for giving a healthy contest against the UPA candidate, his principal opponent P.A.Sangma, aided by the most shady person in Indian political scene Subramanian Swamy, raised objection, to the nomination papers with the Returning Officer on the ground of ‘holding an office of profit’ as the Chairman of Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, which in fact carried no emoluments. But when his resignation letter already submitted was filed the next day, the Returning Officer and Rajya Sabha Secretary General, overruled the objections to Pranab’s candidature after finding them ‘untenable’ and ‘lacking merit’ and in light of Supreme Court order. Then the supreme Court also quashed the PIL (succinctly driven by the BJP, of course) against the nomination of Pranab Mukherjee and also reprimanded the petitioner for wasting the court’s  time and imposed a fine of Rs.50,000.

But the trio Sangma-Swamy-Satya Pal Jain (Sangma’s counsel of the BJP) moved to the Election Commission seeking its intervention for a fresh probe into Sangma’s objection against the candidature of Pranab, leveling new allegations that he was still holding two more offices of profit’ – as Vice President of Birbhum Institute of Engineering and Technology and Chairman of Rabindra Nath Society, which forms the Rabindra Nath University. Besides raking up the issue of Pranab’s signature on the resignation letter, they also said MGK Menon President of ISI, was not the appropriate authority to accept the resignation of the chairman.

It was strange that Sangma and his supporters in this desperation, could not find a viable economic organization offering Pranab any office of profit. His connection with three educational societies has been cited without any proof behind their claim. The Sangma camp did not rule out moving an election petition in the Supreme Court if it failed to get a favourable order from the Election Commissioner.

The issue is likely to create an embarrassing situation after the results for the President’s election are declared and if Pranab wins, the outcome could be challenged in the Apex Court. As per the rules of the election, once the Returning Officer has held the nomination valid, the poll can only be challenged after the outcome. The BJP, which is supporting Sangma, also seems inclined to make it a legal issue after the declaration of the results. The former Finance Minister is a hot favourite to win the face to face showdown. But the BJP, which is backing Sangma in the divided NDA with the JD (U) supporting Pranab, is likely to keep the matter alive.

The Congress managers like so many occasions prior to this seem to have bungled. They could have easily kept all the papers ready on the stipulated day of the scrutiny and ensured that no accusations were made against their Presidential candidate. With numbers favouring Pranab overwhelmingly, the nomination process should have been monitored in such a manner that no controversy cropped up at any time. But even now, the managers should anticipate an election petition later and start taking remedial measures.

The Congress camp is particularly alerted by the fact that all three ‘office-of-profit’ charges the BJP and their candidate P A Sangma have levelled against Pranab Mukherjee relate to organisations located in Kolkata or other parts of West Bengal. So, the Congress needle of suspicion is clearly pointing eastward. Some Congress leaders claim that those who have been neatly outmanoeuvred by them in a frontal war are bound to be routed in a proxy war too. But then, the Look-East policy has always been a Congress specialisation.

President elections do tend to become ugly and there have been also occasions in the past when accusations have been hurled against the candidates by the Sangh parivar. In 1967 when the acclaimed scholar and educationist Dr Zakir Hussain faced a challenge from former Chief Justice Subba Rao, he was accused by the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and some other Hindutva parties of being anti national. The Organiser and Mother India, two Hindu communal magazines came up with stories showing him in poor light. The charges, which were most absurd and had no basis did muddy the polls. In 1969, the most historic election for the President took place after the untimely demise of Dr Zakir Hussain when Indira Gandhi decided to pit the then Vice President V.V.Giri against the Congress nominee and Lok Sabha Speaker N.Sanjiva Reddy.

The election, which resulted in a narrow win for Giri, launched Indira Gandhi as the super star of Indian politics but led to an election petition against the winner. Giri had to appear in the Apex Court to give his version in an election petition. Fakhruddin Ahmed’s elevation as the President in 1974 led to the charge that the status of the head of the state had been lowered. Similar charges were made when Giani Zail Singh was made the President in the early eighties. During the UPA regime when Pratibha Patil was chosen as the first woman president, her opponents described her as someone who lacked the stature of being the first citizen. The short point is that the President polls always have led to some sort of controversy or the other but in the present case, the nomination process for Pranab should have been handled in a deft manner and not so clumsily.

Commenting on development  the newspaper ‘Oman Tribune’ said, “Jayalalitha sought to play the role of a king-maker by joining hands with her Orissa counterpart Naveen Patnaik to issue an appeal in favour of Sangma. Obviously, Jayalalitha did not want a fellow Tamil like Kalam to become the president once again. After all, he has a pan-India fan following which she cannot match. Much the same reason prompted Mamata Banerjee to oppose Mukherjee. In doing so, she is oblivious of the wrong message she sends to the people of West Bengal. The Bengalis are yet to reconcile to the fact that not a single Bengali has so far become president, vice-president or prime minister. There is no certainty that the Trinamool Congress MPs and MLAs would vote for Sangma, as the voting is secret and no disciplinary action can be taken against those violating the party whip. By supporting Mukherjee, the CPM wants to exploit regional feelings against the Chief Minister.”

As things stand, Mukherjee is assured of at least 60 per cent of the total votes. He has personal equations with a large number of political leaders which will help him garner more votes.

In a democracy, elections are unavoidable. Every citizen fulfilling certain criteria has a right to contest for the highest post in the country. But the present contest is meaningless. If Mukherjee wins, it will be the victory as much of the Congress-led UPA as it is of the CPM and the Shiv Sena, not to mention the SP and the JD (U), all of which do not see eye to eye on any issue.

The BJP did not have any great principle to uphold by supporting Sangma, except its anti-Congressism. The President does not enjoy any power of his own, as he is bound by the advice of the Cabinet, except when no party or pre-poll alliance obtains a clear majority. On such occasions, he can exercise some discretion in inviting a leader to form a government.

Given this background, it should have been possible for both the UPA and the NDA to reach a consensus on a candidate. Alas, pettiness of leaders like Mamata Banerjee and Jayalalitha stood in the way.

As much as Pranab Mukherjee maintains in this campaign the dignity and decorum of the office for which the election is held, so much so Sangma and his camp are flouting all norms of decency and propriety as if this is an election to a panchayat ward. In the process Sangma has earned ridicule for his demonstrative gestures and wrath for his unrestrained utterances.

Opposition backed presidential candidate P.A.Sangma was caught offgaurd at his press conference at the state Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters in New Delhi on July 8 when asked why his special website http://www. sangmaforpresident.com was carrying the national emblem of India on the header and he responded to this by saying “it should not be there” and it was removed thereafter.

Opposition BJP backed presidential candidate and former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma came under attack from a Chennai based disability rights body for his remark that India should have a President who is not blind, dumb and deaf.

The Federation of Tamil Nadu Physically Handicapped Associations demanded withdrawal of his remark, saying that it denigrates the capabilities of disable people. “We demand immediate withdrawal of his words denigrating the capabilities of disable people and not accepting disability as part of diversity,” federation president P Simmachandran said. “If he does not withdraw his comments then we will protest against him when he visits TamilNadu.”

    Simmachandran said Sangma’s remark was against the spirit of the Disability Act,1995. “It is very unfortunate that a statesman of Sangma’s stature, pitching himself as a candidate of the tribal community, a vulnerable section of the Indian society, has made an adverse remark on the capabilities of the disable people,” he said.

The National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled in Delhi also had raised objection to Sangma’s comments. “It reflects very poorly on a candidate aspiring to the highest office of the country,” it said.

One can only hope that in the coming days, the polls do not see any kind of serious charges being made against the principal contender. After all, one of them will be the President ultimately. But there are indications in political circles that the present poll will have its share of ugliness, contributed by the trio – Sangma, Swamy and Satyapal.