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.