President of India

-Seasoned and Mature Personality- 

Ram Nath Kovind, 71, was the NDA's presidential candidate who won with over 7 lakh votes against opposition candidate Meira Kumar and has taken over as 14^th President of India.

 He has served as the head of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Wing and served for two full terms in Rajya Sabha from 1994-2000 and 2000-2006. He also served as national spokesperson of the BJP. Mr. Kovind has addressed the United Nations as India’s representative in 2002.After his tenure in the Rajya Sabha, he was sworn-in as the 36^th Governor of Bihar in August 2015. Kovind practiced at both the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court for 16 years.

He was born on October 1, 1945 in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur Rural district. He came from a modest background and worked his way from the ground to the top of the political pyramid. He attained his B. Com and LLB degrees from Kanpur University and had a successful career as a practicing lawyer. He served as the Central Government’s advocate in Delhi High Court between 1977 and 1979. He was also standing counsel in Supreme Court between 1980 and 1993. He was made Advocate-on-Record at the apex court in 1978 and continued his legal practice at the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court till 1993.

As a parliamentarian, he held key positions in parliamentary committees during his 12-year stint as a lawmaker. Besides serving as the Chairman of Rajya Sabha House Committee, he was member of Parliamentary Committees on Welfare of Scheduled Castes/Tribes; Home Affairs; Petroleum and Natural Gas; Social Justice and Empowerment; Law and Justice.

He has several academic associations as well. He is on the management board of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University, Lucknow. He is a member of Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.

At the time of his nomination as a presidential candidate by the ruling combination, intense hue and cry was raised of him being a Dalit and therefore, a sort of  frenzy suddenly erupted as if a great favor has been done to the Dalit communities by a such nomination. His political, social and intellectual work was put aside and his dalit identity was projected on a mammoth screen by the media of this country. The situation so developed that the opposition was also compelled to field another Dalit Meera Kumar, a former Speaker of House of of people of the Indian Parliament as an opposition Presidential candidate.

If we analyze the qualification and political experience of Shri Ram Nath Kovind, we will find that it is far superior to a number of persons who prior to him have held the high office of the President of India. Therefore, trying to highlight only the dalit identity and ignoring his qualification, works in social and political field and loyalties to the party to which he belongs is gross injustice to his personality and the apex office of this country. It may be correct to state that holding such high office may not bring any amelioration as such in the conditions of dalits, however, occupying high position of President of Indian Republic has a positive and inspirational value for coming generation of people. Such happenings and decisions in a democratic republican system kindle hope and aspiration in the minds of younger generations of people.

 Article 52 to 62 of the Constitution of India deals with power and functions of the President. The President is elected through an indirect election by an electoral college. As per the Constitutional scheme, the President of India is a titular or ceremonial head. The executive power of the Union are vested in the President and shall be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him in accordance with this Constitution.

Why the political parties in India which are under the control of upper castes blow out of proportion when they make a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe a candidate for such high office? In its background lies a long history. In the electoral process in India for the Lower House of Parliament (Lok Sabha) and State Legislatures, there is a provision of reservations of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Despite this provision, competent and powerful leadership amongst these communities have failed to emerge who can take the cause of their people with firm conviction on the floor of the house and play a vital role in the formation of state policy in their favour. The main reasons for not been able to do so is the lack of representation of competent leaders in the caucus of political parties. The caucus of almost all political parties is controlled by the upper caste elite. In a democracy, election are fought by the political parties and while selecting a candidate, caste configuration play a vital role. There is no intra-party democracy in form of party election in the political parties nor party tickets are allocated to a candidate to fight election based on his popularity in the constituency. It is sweet will of the party caucus and many a times its top leadership to assign a candidate for a constituency. This ailment has spread to almost all political parties in India and is responsible for namesake democracy.  

While commenting on non-election of competent Scheduled Caste candidates in the legislature Babasahib Dr. B.R. Ambedkar says in June 1945 in his book What Congress and Gandhi have done to the Untouchables and Mr. Gandhi and Emancipation of Untouchables, “…...The fact is that the Congress High Command in selecting a candidate had a definite policy namely in the case of Brahmins, to give preference to a candidate who had the highest educational qualifications and in the case of the Non-Brahmins and the Scheduled Castes, to give preference to a candidate who had the lowest educational qualification. Let those who have any doubts in the matter consider the facts summarized in Table 22 (see page 224.)

It is obvious that in the case of the Brahmins the relative proportion of graduates to non-graduates is far higher than what it is in the case of the Non-Brahmins and the Scheduled Castes. The difference in terms of graduates and non-graduates does not really reveal the correct situation. To put it correctly, the Brahmin graduates were seasoned politicians of high repute while the Non-Brahmin graduates were raw graduates with the career of second class politicians to recommend them.

Why did the Congress select the best educated Brahmins as its candidates for election? Why did the Congress select the least educated Non-Brahmins and Scheduled Castes as its candidates for election? To this question I can see only one answer. It was to prevent the Non-Brahmins in the Congress from forming a ministry. The Congress seems to have deliberately preferred an uneducated Non-Brahmin to an educated one because from the point of view of the governing class, the uneducated Non-Brahmin has two definite advantages over an educated non-Brahmin. In the first place, he is likely to be more grateful to the Congress High Command for having got him elected than an educated Non-Brahmin is likely to be, and would not be ready to revolt against the Congress Ministry, formed by the governing classes, by joining hands with the educated Non-Brahmins in the Congress Party should the latter aspire to form a government of their own against the government of the governing classes. In the second place, if more undergraduates or more raw Non-Brahmin graduates were selected, it was with the purpose to prevent the Non-Brahmins in the Congress from forming a competent and alternative Ministry to the detriment of the governing class. The Non-Brahmins in the Congress do not know how the Congress has deceived them, and how in drawing them inside the Congress, the Congress was making a concealed attempt to permanently entrench the governing classes in places of power and authority.”[i]

This argument holds good for election of a public office from a Panch to the President in this country. Sadly, the depressed classes are not willing to wage a struggle for social, spiritual and cultural regeneration of its own social groups and Indian society as a whole. The division in their rank and file is a major stumbling block. Everyone is hankering after political power, attainment of which is difficult without regeneration of society on the canons of liberty, equality, fraternity and justice. These expressions are not hollow words but the moral and ethical foundations of any democratic society.

Thucydides while addressing his opponents once said, “It may be in your interest to be our masters, where it is in our interest to be your slave.” Mental slavery is the bedrock of all slavery. Any society has to tide over it but before that individual himself cross such a bridge.  

I wish and hope that new President of India would positively contribute towards establishing more human and inclusive society on the cherished dreams of making Bharat a Prabudha Bharat – a knowledge empowered society.

We are proud of our new  President of India and his glorious feat.

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1. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, Volume 9, page 222.