BJP made a political masterstroke as not many parties would have liked to oppose the low-profile Dalit leader Ram Nath Kovind as the NDA’s presidential nominee, who has been extremely successful in public life. And rightly, the campaign for the 14th presidency was free of mudslinging and bitterness, unlike the 2007 election of Pratibha Devi Singh Patil. Even the BJP’s arch political rivals who set up Meira Kumar against Ram Nath Kovind based the contest as a battle of ideologies.

 

 

There is a tremendous effort to gain as much consensus in elections to high constitutional offices. However, contest is integral to and at times inevitable in a democracy. In Kovind’s case, there was a near-consensus on his name with a host of non-NDA parties lining up behind his candidature.

Therefore, expectation is high from the new occupant of the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Being mindful of his place in history as the Republic’s first President from the BJP-RSS’s ideological stock, the President-elect must now show his allegiance to the Constitution — in letter, spirit and sensitivity.

The second Dalit to occupy the high office after K R Narayanan, the tenth president, the President-elect must balance demands of the high office which is all together a different ballgame than the regional, caste or linguistic identities that might dictate nominations.

Though highly accomplished, Kovind — a former Governor —who studied law and practised it in the Supreme Court, will still need to learn a lot while on the job, unlike Pranab Mukherjee, his immediate predecessor. Compared to Kovind’s two terms in the Rajya Sabha, Mukherjee was Member of Parliament for 43 years, minister for 22 years and member of the Congress working committee for 28 years. That gives an idea of the size of the shoes the new President steps into.

 “A president never belongs to any party. All people irrespective of caste, creed and religion, state are equal. Vote bank is not important for me but development matters,” Kovind had said during his recent visit to Itanagar on July 6^th to garner support of the MLAs of Arunachal Pradesh.

 

We hope as the keeper of the Constitution the President- elect will always heed to ‘constitutional morality’.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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