Ever since the 13th 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.
