The only thing Indian media has been revolving around, for the last whole month, is speculating who would be India's next President. The value of Indian Rupee is contantly slipping and the inflation soaring, but that didn't seem as much important to the media houses. Interestingly, the speculations and the crazy merry-go - round over the successor to Pratibha Patil at the Rashtrapati Bhavan appealed the masses as well. Prime time shows and editorial pages of the newspapers were all packed with the Presidential news.
This trend is unprecedented. For the first time, there is so much fuss about who would be our next President. Does that not indicate about how much the people are annoyed with our present President? As is evident from a bare reading of our Constitution, the President hardly has discretion to exercise and decisions to make on his own. Almost everything the President does, during whole of his term is on the 'Aid and advice of the Council of Ministers'. Why then would everyone be so anxious to have a new, a better president with minimal powers? Is it that a better successor would at least create a better global image of the nation?
Pratibha Patil has been criticized as a President even more, probably because her predecessor was a highly qualified and an inspirational Scientist. People do not expect a President to perform exceptionally well as the first citizen of the country, but at least make such public appearances that would carry the image of brand India and not the ones that are marred by various controversies. Mrs. Patil was dragged into various controversies. Be it regarding protecting her brother in a murder case, or divulging funds to a family owned trust or her post- retirement home. That is the least one would expect to go around even with the President.
Be it so, the hunt for President started like a TV reality show, with all the melodrama. Political Parties gradually got into the act of deciding the Presidential candidate. Firstly, Congress not naming their candidate for so long. Once they officially name Pranabda as their candidate, their most trusted ally, for no reason apparent, TMC leader and Bengal CM, Mamata Banerjee teams up with Mulayam to name none other than the present Prime Minister as their preferred choice for the post.Such a statement is obviously intriguing as it reflected that Mamata has no faith either in Manmohan Singh as PM and Pranabda as Prez. Let us not go into the coalition dharma debate but accept the fact that the UPA is definitely vulnerable. They badly need those 20 seats of Bengal, which Mamatadi holds. Further, Sangma from NCP and Ram Jethmalani from BJP have decided to contest the elections, even with a god idea of the support Pranabda has.
However, in the end, Pranab da is nominated as the Prez candidate by Congress also getting expressive support from SP and BSP and with speculations that he would sweep an easy victory even if he is contested. But one more issue needs to be gone into. Pranab has been a savior for UPA in the times of crisis, then why was only he named as Prez. Evidently, he could not do much to save Indian economy from the world crisis. The Rupee kept on slipping, inflation rising and market transactions at the low of a decade. But, he deserves a retirement of this kind. A man who has been at the whelms of Congress since 70's surely deserves it all.
Let us now hope that 19th July gives us a new, a better, a rather more inspirational President who would lead India from the front and take us ahead with the vision of India 2020.
Jay Hind.
