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THE HUNT FOR A
PRESIDENT stopped at APJ Abdul Kalam, the nuclear and missile scientist. His
choice for the post of presidentship came as a climax to a grueling drama of
bourgeois political opportunism and intrigue. The whole exercise was heavily
laden with communal considerations. The deadly poisonous fumes that emanated
from the smouldering state of Gujarat set the rules of the game. The BJP that
had long been considering the candidacy of Farookh Abdullah turned around,
strengthened after the Gujarat carnage, and thought of fielding someone from its
own ranks or from the men who were having no qualms of its saffron agenda to
ensure complete control of the country in the grip of the Hindutva ideology and
agenda. Abdullah was ditched and a hunt started for a more pliant and non-Muslim
person. Having met with opposition within the NDA for a man from its own ranks,
it considered many options from which PC Alexander, the then governor of
Maharashtra, emerged as a strong hopeful.
Alexander, who was
once a Congressman, had of late been quite supportive of the Hindutva forces and
many of the NDA constituents were ready to support him. He was considered for
being a pro-Hindu and a Christian as well. His name was almost finalized and the
prime minister was ready to announce his candidature when at the last moment the
TDP supremo C. Naidu did not turn up in Delhi for the occasion. Naidu had
something else on his mind. Having exposed himself due to his opportunistic
position during the Gujarat episode he wanted to show that he cared for the
Muslims [vote bank] and proposed the name of APJ Kalam. He got his nomination
for being a Muslim and not a scientist. The ruling classes needed a face-saver
after the blot of the Gujarat carnage and Kalam readily accepted the role of one
and became an ignominious tool in the hands of the communalist rulers by
accepting their offer.
Meanwhile, when the
name of Alexander was being considered the Shiv Sena also floated the name of
JFR Jacob, the governor of Punjab, because he belonged to the Jewish religion
and Jews are considered anti-Muslim because of Israeli Zionism. This was to
suggest that the saffron brigade was happy to have a Jew as president because
Jews are thought to be anti-Muslim. This was a heinous way of saying that
Muslims must be treated the way the Palestinians are being treated by the State
of Israel and the US ruling class. The blatant communal approach that was
exhibited in the selection of the presidential candidate made a mockery of the
Indian "democratic" system and showed that Indian rulers were one with the
Israeli and US imperialist butchers.
The RSS leaders did
openly state that they were happy at the selection of Kalam as he is a "Muslim
Hindu" and a "real nationalist Muslim." It is a crooked method to say that
Muslims are rarely "nationalists" and the RSS wants Muslims to become the likes
of Kalam who will not question the fascist Hindus and their revivalist ideology.
Kalam on his part boasts that he is a "Mohammadi" Hindu and a "true
nationalist." He tries to push himself as a "true Indian" and a good human
being. A good human being indeed (!) who does not bother to condemn the heinous
carnage in Gujarat just to save his skin and fame. And this was the most
infamous type of a human being of the stature of Kalam to keep quiet on Gujarat.
He just repeated the words of the notorious prime minister when he said,
"Gujarat should not have happened" without ever elaborating that who were the
culprits behind the gory happenings of the past few months. He was only happy to
be nominated by the killers and become their appeaser. The saffron butchers are
happy that there are Muslims who have accepted their diktat that Muslims must
live in this country as per the wishes of Hindus as second-class citizens. The
man has gotten the certificate of the First Citizen and this is a disgraceful
way of accepting the second-class status. Is it not the most degrading thing to
keep quiet when fellow human beings are being burned in the name of the glory of
a religion?
But he is not alone
in this respect. The then incumbent president too did not utter a word on the
Gujarat butchery. And he was known for his outspokenness. Perhaps he was waiting
for a consensus on a second term that eluded him. KR Narayanan kept quiet and
behaved like a constitutional machine and not a human being. Even
constitutionalism does not say that a president must keep mum when the most
fundamental right of all fundamental rights, the right to life, is violated on
such a frenzied scale. But this is the way in a polity ridden with crass
opportunism.
The new incumbent has
an answer to every evil in the development of science. He has elevated social
sciences to the level of natural sciences in a most unscientific way telling the
people that everything bad, the poverty, the unemployment, the moral
degeneration, and so on and on will automatically disappear with the development
of science. He exhorts the people not to demand anything from the rulers but to
give their own best. He has philosophized on the American way of life and put
out a vision for India that will make this wretched country a super power with
all the stress on scientific development. The social scientists are aghast at
his naïve and unscientific utterings. The politicians laugh at his statements.
The first citizen is making a mockery of himself. But then, this is the way the
presidents of the Indian republic have been all along. If they don’t get a broom
to sweep the floor before a prime minister, they learn to keep quiet and avoid
controversy in every possible way. The post needs a puppet and a willing puppet
makes a best First Citizen.
What else would the
communal brigade have wanted at the helm of the country if not a person who
would eagerly transform himself in accordance with its desires? The election of
Kalam has come at a time when the dark clouds of communal fascism are fast
spreading over the skies. The man is all the more willing to become more
Hinduised than his sponsors may demand of him. It is like another victory of the
saffron brigade after Gujarat. The recent communal juggernaut that has started
from the deserts of Gujarat has roped up a missile-man for furthering the reach
of the bloody communalist buckshot.
The opposition,
barring the so-called Left, lined behind the BJP choice just because the carpet
was hauled up from under their feet for Kalam is a Muslim and a reputed
scientist. All their clamour to put up a fight against a candidate sponsored by
the communalist BJP evaporated into thin air once Kalam’s candidature was
announced. They had wanted a second term for KR Naraynan or a consensus on their
own choice for which purpose the vice-president Krishan Kant was their
racehorse. The ‘Left’ did not go along with the opposition in backing Kalam as
they wanted to show that they were really anti-BJP so they fielded the INA
veteran captain Lakshmi Sehgal who is definitely much more political than Kalam
and speaks the language of Chile’s Salvador Allende. She says that the
conditions are ripe for a revolution in India. Her chance to make it to the
presidential palace was nowhere near a reality yet she considered it right to
tell the people that a revolution could be made from the palace to combat
poverty, unemployment, the imperialist loot and exploitation, and the forces of
evil in the state structure and on the streets only if a ‘left’ government were
in power to support a president like her. In fielding her and by not coming in
support of Kalam the ‘Left’ Front has lost many of its longstanding bourgeois
opportunist allies for which the ‘left’ is at pain and shall soon find ways to
bridge the distance that has come to stay in the aftermath of the presidential
horse race.
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