Mamata asserts herself in Opposition politics

By declaring that the Trinamool Congress would not be participating in the election process of the Vice President, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has asserted her position to drive home a point to other Opposition parties.
In fact, taken aback by what they described as volte face by Mamata, many leaders wondered why she had chosen to take this stand as she and her party colleagues were very much in the loop when Margaret Alva was declared the joint nominee of the Opposition to take on former West Bengal Governor, Jagdeep Dhankhar of the BJP.
Mamata on her part has made no secret of her unhappiness over the manner in which the VP candidate was announced in a tearing hurry and when she wanted to also propose some other names to offer the Opposition a wider choice.
Mamata’s nephew, Abhishek Banerjee has stated that the West Bengal Chief Minister had very cordial relations with Margaret Alva, but political decisions are not taken on the basis of personal rapport. The TMC supremo is obviously peeved why the venue was shifted to veteran leader Sharad Pawar’s residence and no effort was made to get her on board before making the announcement.
Margaret Alva has held multiple positions in the past and when she was chosen, it had also raised eyebrows in the Congress camp since it was not very long ago that she in her book had been extremely critical of the Gandhis and had insinuated regarding their possible involvement in some arms deals. From that point onwards, relations between her and the Gandhis had soured and many Congress leaders, in order to display their loyalty to the Congress first family, had taken pot shots at her.
Alva in the past has also been central to a controversy which had broken out after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in Sriperumbudur on 21 May 1991. The allegation against her was that she was amongst those who had included Sriperumbudur in the itinerary at the eleventh hour to help Latha Priya Kumar, the Congress candidate from there and daughter of Margatham Chandrasekar, a senior party leader, considered to be close to Indira Gandhi at one time. While nobody has been able to substantiate these charges, somehow, they continue to be discussed in Congress circles.
Alva had fallen from grace when she had once boasted that her family had been a part of the Council of States for over 50 years, alluding to her mother-in-law, Violet Alva’s stint as the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman. Violet Alva was an aspirant for Vice Presidentship but was overlooked by Indira Gandhi in 1969, who preferred Gopal Swarup Pathak.
Coming back to the Vice President’s election, it is a foregone conclusion that with or without the support of the TMC, Alva was bound to lose since the numbers favour the BJP. More important is that Mamata has sent a clear message to the Opposition parties that she had more MPs than most of them and was perhaps second only to the Congress and therefore had to be viewed as one of the pivots of any proposed unity to take on Narendra Modi and the BJP in 2024.
Her party has been urging other parties to also take to streets like the TMC to oppose the current dispensation and not sit quietly and expect miraculous results to come out when the time comes. As stated in these columns earlier as well, the Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections are merely a ploy by some Opposition leaders to position themselves for the next round of Parliamentary polls.
On Thursday, Droupadi Murmu became the first tribal women to be elected to the august office of the President and thus the country’s first citizen. She polled more than twice the number of votes obtained by her illustrious rival, Yashwant Sinha, who conceded defeat even before counting ended.
The President’s election has always evinced great interest; many times they seem to be linked to destiny if believers of astrology are to be taken seriously. In 1969, no one thought that after Dr Zakir Hussain’s demise, V.V. Giri would be the President and that too be defeating the official Congress nominee, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy.
In 2002, it was almost certain that the then Vice President, Krishan Kant would be elevated, as a consensus seemed to be on the anvil after talks between Brajesh Mishra and K. Natwar Singh, assigned by the Congress to engage with Atal Behari Vajpayee’s principal secretary. However, developments overtook the anticipated announcement and Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, eminent scientist, emerged as the ultimate choice. Kalam turned out to be amongst the best Presidents India has had.
In 2007, Sonia Gandhi’s first choice was Shivraj Patil, whose candidacy was rejected by A.B. Bardhan of the CPI. The next name to be discussed was that of Dr Karan Singh. He too did not receive Bardhan’s approval because of his royal lineage. At this point, Sonia Gandhi left the meeting for some time and dialled Ambika Soni.
Ambika was away in Kashmir and was about to board a chopper with the then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. She could not hear what Sonia was trying to convey and told her that she would return the call as soon as she landed at the next destination. It was too late by that time. Ahmed Patel got wind of it and it was Pratibha Patil.
The very best for Droupadi Murmu for her new innings. Between us.