Droupadi Murmu’s election is a foregone conclusion.
In New Delhi, democracy has triumphed. In Maharashtra, it has, for the time being, taken an unseemly beating. More on this later in the article.
The Indian Foreign Service has provided the country with one Rashtrapati, two Up-Rashtrapatis and two External Affairs Ministers and several other Cabinet Ministers.
K.R. Narayan was the second person to be elected Vice-President and President. The first was Dr S. Radhakrishnan. The former came from the Scheduled Caste. The latter was a high class Brahmin.
For the Presidential election to be held on 18 July, the NDA has selected Smt. Droupadi Murmu. She is a Santhal Adivasi from Mayurbhanj in Odisha. Her election is a foregone conclusion. Her opponent is Yashwant Sinha, a former IAS officer, who, after resigning from the IAS, was Finance and External Affairs Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
Three well-known, nationally admired personalities had declined to contest the Presidential election—Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah and Gopal Krishna Gandhi. He is Gandhiji’s grandson.
Smt Murmu filed her nomination on Friday, in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.
She lost her two sons and husband several years ago. It has been a life of searing sorrow. But her inner strength and uncommon serenity have seen her through life and to become Rashtrapati next month. Madame, the good wishes of 1.4 billion Indians are with you.
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Maharashtra is the second most important state in India. In Bombay, the Congress was founded in 1885. It is still the richest city in the country. Broadly speaking, it is still, politically and commercially, a magnetic metropolis. Marine Drive, Chowpatty, Juhu, Malabar Hill are eye-catching landmarks. The city has first rate bookshops. Bollywood provides the glamour. The slums hugely diminish it.
What is happening politically in Mumbai at the moment is nothing short of a tragic, comic and alarming farce. Shri Eknath Shinde and his 30—or is it 35 or 40 MLAs?—are in Guwahati. Shri Shinde was not so long ago number two in Shri Uddhav Thackeray’s Cabinet. Is there, at present, a government in Maharashtra? Only Shri Sharad Pawar probably has the answer. He is the most astute and experienced politician in India. Shri Uddhav Thackeray’s son, Aditya Thackeray—he is a cabinet minister—remarked on 24 June: “Our own people betrayed us…. My father underwent surgery and could not meet people. They took advantage of his illness. I feel angry about this.”
His father (is he still the Chief Minister?) said the same day, “I may have left the Chief Minister’s official residence (Varsha), but not my determination to fight back… You should keep (the) Thackeray name out of your politics and see if you can survive. One can never detach Thackeray from Sena.” Shri Uddhav’s intense dislike of the BJP is not a secret. Will Shri Eknath Shinde embrace the 105 BJP MLAs?
What role will the Governor and Speaker play? So far it is not known, except perhaps to a few insiders. The haemorrhaging of both sides is doing much harm to both groups and more importantly to the political process in the state.
The media is running from pillar to post. Many of its pundits think that they know what is going on. Alas, they don’t. Politicians display genius while dealing with the media. They don’t give false information, only 25% of reality.
At times, even the politicians do not know which way the political wind is blowing. I am aware that by the time this article is published, fresh elections could be announced. Some MLAs might ditch Shri Eknath Shinde. Who knows? Let’s wait and see. This is the advice of an ex-politician.
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The Supreme Court of the United States has put the abortion clock 50, if not more, years back. From 1973 till last Friday, abortion was legal. No longer so. The present Supreme Court is conservative. President Donald Trump appointed three Conservative judges. Supreme Court Judges—9 in number—are appointed for life.
President Biden spoke frankly and passionately against the verdict.
According to a recent Gallup poll, only 25% of Americans have confidence in the Supreme Court. Only 13% Democrats have any faith in the Supreme Court.