India's next President: Ram Nath Kovind is no APJ Kalam - Modi has made a mistake
“The choice of Kovind is a political masterstroke by Modiji," is Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan’s reaction to the NDA’s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind. He wasn't isolated in making such a statement.
The BJP, as well as its supporters, reacted similarly. Paswan asked the opposition parties to support the Dalit candidate, claiming that if they put up a candidate against Kovind then they would be seen as “anti-Dalit”. Others too went by his Dalit lineage.
They are arguing that opposing Kovind will not only dub other parties as anti-Dalit but will also bridge the gap between the ruling BJP and Dalit community and in the long-term help get votes.
But has such a masterstroke of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah divided opposition unity? Will it force the opposition parties to support the NDA candidate? Will it help the BJP in bridging the trust deficit between it and the Dalit community and get their votes?
BJD chief and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik came out in support of Kovind. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and BSP chief Mayawati too voiced their support to Kovind as President. Not only these three opposition parties, even disgruntled NDA partner Shiv Sena has decided to support Kovind. So, as far as breaking the opposition’s unity is concerned, the NDA has succeeded.
Expressing its dissatisfaction in the way the NDA has announced its presidential candidate, the Congress said it was not consulted before the announcement. The first reaction of senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was: “The BJP made a unilateral decision.”
Political developments suggest the Congress is not going to give a walkover to the NDA and field its own candidate. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury too has hinted that the Opposition might discuss a contender’s name in the meeting that will be chaired by the Congress president on June 22.
Though the NDA candidate has an edge in the presidential college, the main opposition party along with the Left Front and TMC seems determined to make a contest.
In light of the recent atrocities towards scheduled castes, it has been argued that Kovind as President will bridge the trust deficit between the BJP and Dalit community. And in the long run, it will help in getting their votes for the ruling party.
If that would have been the case, then the Congress should have got maximum votes in West Bengal after making a Bengali, Pranab Mukherjee, India's President. But it hasn't helped the Congress in the home state of the current President of India.
Similarly, by making a Muslim, APJ Abdul Kalam, India's President, the BJP should have got the support of his community. That too didn’t happen. Going by past example, BJP's hope of getting Dalit votes too seems to be over-optimistic and not based on reality.
If one goes by the impact on the Opposition, then the choice of Kalam as candidate for President by the ruling NDA in 2002 was a real masterstroke. It had fragmented opposition unity. The main opposition party Congress was forced to support his candidature because of his stature as well as because he was a Muslim.
Left parties put a symbolic fight by fielding Captain Lakshmi Sahgal. Kalam got around 90 per cent of votes and defeated his rival convincingly.
It definitely shows that the Vajpayee government's decision to field Kalam was a masterstroke and not the Modi government's decision to field Kovind.