The Presidential election and the GST rollout have brought about a clear division: the Congress-pivoted Opposition has unleashed a fight, which, it knows, the BJP-led NDA is destined to win. The leadership of the Opposition camp is deemed to be with Sonia Gandhi. But in effect it is CPM’s Sitaram Yechury and RJD’s Lalu Prasad Yadav and to some extent CPI’s D. Raja who call the shots. Sharad Pawar of NCP has gone along. Trinamool’s Mamata Banerjee has chosen to be in this camp, as she nurtures ambition of emerging as the alternate face in 2019. Also, the inroads made by BJP in her Bengal bastion push her towards Congress and CPM—a disparate combination in Bengal whom Trinamool has sought to decimate in the past (acrimony on the ground remains; cadres often clash). DMK has pitched in as AIADMK is on the opposite side.
Nitish Kumar’s JDU has shied away. Support to NDA’s Ram Nath Kovind was announced without any reservation. Meira Kumar being “Bihar ki beti” did not soften Nitish, who saw merit in Kovind’s record as Bihar Governor. Now it is being speculated whether Nitish will rejoin NDA. What needs to be recognised is that regional satraps like Naveen Patnaik, Chandrababu Naidu, K. Chandrashekhar Rao, Mamata Banerjee and even Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy have learnt to keep their options open and they deal with the party in power in New Delhi on their own terms. Minus Mamata, all the satraps have extended support to NDA in the Presidential poll.
Bid for a common Opposition candidate fizzled out the moment BJP stole the march and announced its candidate. The dilly-dallying by Congress deprived the Opposition of the advantage of making the first move.
The name of Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the Mahatma’s grandson, who distinguished himself as an administrator, envoy to South Africa and Governor of politically sensitive Bengal, had done its rounds. Gopal Gandhi had served as the principal aide to President K.R. Narayanan, so he is no stranger to the niceties of the office of the President. Perhaps the Nehru family’s aversion to promoting scions of prominent leaders of the freedom struggle came in the way—besides being the grandson of Father of the Nation, Gopal Gandhi is the grandson of India’s former Governor General, C. Rajagopalachari from his mother’s side. His candidature could have set a cat among pigeons.
Dalit empowerment is of supreme importance. But will the candidature of two persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes alleviate the conditions of the Dalits, who constitute 20% of the population? Ram Nath Kovind comes from the rural areas of Kanpur and got his education in the schools and colleges of Kanpur, before shifting to Delhi and distinguishing himself as a lawyer.
He comes from a middle class background. He was never part of Jan Sangh, the parent party of BJP. In fact, he joined BJP a decade after the party was launched by former Jan Sangh stalwarts in 1980. He has been close to RSS, but is not a known Sangh face. In effect, by selecting him, BJP kept in mind the sensitivities of those who may have been averse to supporting a known RSS face. The multiparty support garnered by Kovind has justified the choice.
In effect, by selecting Kovind, BJP kept in mind the sensitivities of those who may have been averse to supporting a known RSS face.
Meira Kumar had her schooling in Welhams Dehradun and Maharani Gayatri Devi School, Jaipur. She attended Delhi’s Miranda House, Indraprastha College and Rajasthan’s Banasthali—all top-end institutions. In 1985, she was selected by Rajiv Gandhi to contest against Mayawati and Ram Vilas Paswan in the Bijnor Lok Sabha byelection. Having quit the Foreign Service, she trounced two leading Dalit faces and began a distinguished career as parliamentarian. It is significant that while BSP is supporting her, Mayawati was not by her side when she filed her nomination. Mamata Banerjee, Lalu Prasad Yadav and the family of Mulayam Singh Yadav also stayed away when Opposition stalwarts, led by Sonia Gandhi, accompanied her to the returning officer. When Kovind filed his papers, all NDA stalwarts, including L.K. Advani and M.M. Joshi were by his side.
The most significant absentee was Rahul Gandhi. He was in Italy from where he tweeted support for Meira Kumar. He described her candidature to be “against the ideology of divisionism”. He added, “She represents the values that bind us as a nation”. Sonia Gandhi has described the contest as a “fight for ideology, principles and truth”.
In the presidential poll, are we witnessing an ideological slugfest, or is it mere politics with the veneer of Dalit empowerment? Congress initiated GST. While in Opposition, BJP opposed it. Now while GST has been passed, with the Congress having voted for it, petty politics seems to overawe economic logic.
It’s advantage BJP, while Congress leads the charge of the light brigade. Opposition for the sake of opposition may not yield gains for Congress, the only opponent of BJP with a nationwide footprint which has a good track record as a party of governance. While Sonia Gandhi emerged as pivot, the anti-Modi agenda was driven by other parties. It was a case of tail wagging the dog.