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Kalam should have gone gracefully

 While the BJP was more inconsistent and opportunistic than usual, the president was swayed by support from cyberspace

With the support extended by the Left parties and the Bahujan Samaj Party, UPA presidential candidate Pratibha Patil is certain to enter the Rashtrapati Bhawan as the first woman president of the Indian Republic.

The Left parties had set forth three criteria that the future president of India should possess—he/she should be a person well versed with the political complexities of the present times; should be a person with impeccable secular credentials; and should be a person capable of maintaining the balance between the executive, legislature and the judiciary as mandated by our Constitution. While many experienced and mature leaders would fulfil these criteria, the CPI(M) had said that it would support the person on whom there would be the widest possible agreement amongst political parties.

The BJP and the NDA emerged inconsistent and opportunistic. Former prime minister Vajpayee said on May 22, 2007, “We have conveyed to president Abdul Kalam that a consensus could not be evolved on a second term for him.” The BJP then announced that they would field the vice president, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

However, soon after the UPA announced its candidate, the BJP/NDA cried foul claiming that they were not consulted and, hence, a consensus on Patil was not possible. Their inconsistency can be measured by the fact that last time around after the NDA had decided to field Dr Kalam, it had approached others, seeking consensual support.

While the Congress had agreed and extended support to Dr Kalam, the Left felt that since Dr Kalam was a BJP/NDA nominee, it could not support him and, hence, fielded the legendary freedom fighter and INA heroine, Dr Lakshmi Sehgal. At that time, the BJP/NDA refused to support the incumbent president K R Narayanan stating that no president of India, except for the first, Rajendra Prasad, served a second term.

When the United National People's Alliance, consisting of the regional parties who had lost the last round of state elections, decided not to support a Congress or a BJP candidate, they approached President Kalam asking if he would contest. He agreed—with a caveat: only if victory was certain, he said.

When the UNPA approached the BJP/NDA, they virtually abandoned their own candidate to seriously consider supporting Dr Kalam again. As far as the Left is concerned, there was no question of supporting Dr Kalam having contested against him in the last elections. With the UPA also firmly rejecting any consideration of his candidature, the BJP/NDA realised that the numbers were not in favour of assuring Dr Kalam any degree of “certainty”.

Reports suggest that Dr Kalam couldn't resist the temptation of seeking a second term as he was overwhelmed by the response he received in cyberspace.

It must be underlined that the president of India is president for Indian citizens, and not just for Netizens, who constitute a miniscule minority of Indian citizens. Further, the number of emails required to jam a personal computer may not be sufficient as the number of votes required, say, to win a municipal ward election. Dr Kalam should have gracefully relinquished office as all his previous illustrious predecessors had done.

Finally, however, Dr Kalam was forced to see the reality.

 

Why is Sonia Gandhi against Kalam?

There could be many reasons for Sonia Gandhi’s unrelenting stance against the president. And none of them seem right and proper.

Sonia Gandhi’s visceral opposition to the renomination of the current incumbent of Rashtrapati Bhavan, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, is inexplicable. Why is Sonia so negative about Abdul Kalam? Knowing the mind of Sonia Gandhi, on whom he depends for his job, Manmohan Singh has reportedly agreed to the US demand that India cap the Agni-III programme to a 5,000-km range. This would mean the end of this country’s hopes of becoming a competitor to Europe in the satellite launch market. Such an outcome may not be unpalatable to Sonia, for she has the luxury of getting back her EU passport, the way Alberto Fujumori switched from Peruvian to Japanese in a flash.

Whether it is the clandestine sale of thorium under the guise of “exports of sand” or the efforts at signing the nuclear deal, or the retreat from Siachen and Sir Creek, this government has reduced India to the stature of a diplomatic dwarf, in the process magnifying the role of Europe in South Asia. Even though he has almost never openly spoken his mind on such matters, it is known that President Kalam is deeply concerned about the direction of Indian policy, and the long-term impact of the Maino Doctrine on the country’s security. He would be troubled by the destruction of the rocket and space programme to a level that would render our billion-plus people defenseless in the event of a first strike by a nuclear power other than Pakistan.

Poor Sonia is almost poor, judging by the returns she has filed with the Election Commission. However, barring Arecaparambil Kurian Antony and Manmohan Singh, none of the leaders of her party—herself included—are known for anything other than an ostentatious lifestyle. A visit to any of the rallies that are organised for Sonia Maino Gandhi to register the “spontaneous” ecstasy of local citizens to her coming will show that each has cost a great deal of money.

Almost every politician in office has, therefore, a vested interest in ensuring that suitcases keep rolling in. President Kalam is the odd person out in a gathering of politicians, because the man has been scrupulously honest for all his life. Even the visit of his family to New Delhi to attend his swearing-in was paid for out of his meagre savings. Now that he has been President of India, from now onwards his stay will be met out of the exchequer, otherwise all that he would have been able to afford would have been a room in Mumbai or two in Chennai. Indeed, he has stayed in a single room for almost all of his life, declining lavish quarters and the usual perquisites of high office.

Muthuvel Karunanidhi was responsible in 1997 for preventing the first-ever Tamil Prime Minister of India. G K Moopanar would have made it to the gaddi but for opposition from the DMK boss. That the first family of Indian politics has been joined in an alliance by the second family (Muthuvel, Stalin, Azhagiri and Kannimozhi) is no secret. Did Muthuvel request Sonia not to give a second chance to Abdul Kalam? If so, he will have the “distinction” of not only being instrumental in preventing a Tamilian from becoming prime minister, but President as well.

While President Kalam has been significantly less assertive about the country’s basic interests than Citizen Kalam, he has nevertheless been an outstanding Head of State, and there is no reason why he should be denied a second term, unless it be for the reasons mentioned above.