Prime Presidential Minister:

June 15/2012: The race to reach the Raisina Hill is hotting up. Votes for this election will come from the Lok Sabha and the Legislatures. Total number of voters of all these Houses put together is 4,896. There is a simply complicated percentage count that a lay person need not delve into. This exalted electorate will cast  inpidual votes 19 July 2012.

Names of various candidates are now being bandied around. That is because D Day is getting closer. The first stone was thrown by Biju Janata Dal’s Naveen Patnaik who unilaterally announced PA Sangma as the preferred man. AIADMK’s Jayalalithaa  supported Sangma a day later. The Congress led UPA has not been able to openly put up any name(s) as yet. Due to the inability of the UPA to firm up a name, the BJP led NDA has publicly announced that it will not react until the UPA spells out its candidate. By saying this, the BJP’s Anant Kumar made a joke of not only his party but also of the alliance that it poses to be leading.

Samajwadi’s Mulayam and Trinamool’s Mamata made a half-baked effort at starting a smart game 13 June by jointly declaring that both propose first APJ Abdul Kalam, second Manmohan Singh and third Somnath Chatterjee as probables for the race. Somnath may have been suggested by Mamata simply because she cannot afford to delete Bengal from her proposed list. That she could never be serious about Somnath is extremely understandable. Even if he betrayed the Left for temporary personal gains during the Nuclear vote in the 14th Lok Sabha, she must still be seeing his red-turned-pinko character very clearly. In reality, someone like Somnath has no political beliefs that anyone could really admire. In his long tenure in the Lok Sabha, thanks to the untiring efforts of the CPM cadres who used to get him elected, Somnath often disturbed the proceedings in the House. When he became the Speaker, his intense dislike for every Member except Rahul Gandhi and some particular Ministers, was palpable. A man like him in the Rashtrapati Bhavan would be a disgrace to the nation. The list of disgraceful probables starts with APJ Abdul Kalam, comprises Pranab Mukherjee and ends with Somnath.

The less one speaks about Kalam the better. A man who has virtually no claim to any kind of fame successfully masqueraded as a scientist/technologist for long enough to fool this country for one term of Presidency. Trust the BJP to thrust such  anti development inpiduals on this poor nation. While writing a book on his personal vision of the future of India, Kalam delayed the launch of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) designed by brilliant Indian aeronautic engineers. This inordinate delay resulted in the aircraft losing its tech edge. He did it just so no one else could stake claim for its parentage. Similarly, it would be unfair to the young technologists at DRDA to give credit to Kalam for the birth of the Agni family of missiles. All that he could take credit for would be for his denial to Google and other companies to make India GPS ready.

Mamata told us all (through tv channels) that when she met Sonia Gandhi 13 June, the names of Pranab Mukherjee and Hamid Ansari were suggested to her. Hamid Ansari, the present Vice Prez, is known as a minor vitriolic North Indian Moslem politician without any depth of understanding about this country. Just because he is Moslem (like Kalam) does not justify his being garlanded as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. In reality, most non BJP Indians are kind of getting bugged with this sick mindset of Mulayam and Sonia to always propose some Moslem or the other for any post that goes vacant. Some even suggest that this gent and the lady should first step down from the various posts they hold and be replaced by some Moslem educated in a Madrasa of Azamgarh of Uttar Pradesh. Once they do that, they can rightfully ask all others to follow suit.

Now comes Pranab Mukherjee. All of us would like to believe he is keen on the Presidential post. We have no idea of the wily cunningness of this midget. Anyone who understands that convoluted mind’s working pattern knows well that for months he has been scratching away at his personal target. His target is to be Prime Minister of India. He is well aware that he will not get the support of Sonia or her clan. They hate him and his cohorts since after the killing of Indira Gandhi because he had tried and obviously failed at upstaging Rajiv. Lately, he has been desperately trying to project an image of being a statesman, the man responsible for all the trouble shooting required to hold the UPA together. Parts of the national media have also gone gaga to make this image look realistic. Pranab made Adhir Ranjan Choudhury, a Lok Sabha MP from Bengal, to initially pitch his name for President. That done, he lay cool and even went as far as denying his Presidential ambitions on telly. Slowly but certainly, the poison spread. Promises of greater largesse for their respective states have turned the heads of people like Mulayam and Mamata. They, by punching in names like Kalam-Manmohan-Somnath, intelligently forced Sonia to name Pranab as her first choice for Prez. At least, that is what Mamata told the media and Sonia has not refuted it till now. This one single motion made Manmohan a probable for Presidency and Sonia was compelled to name Pranab as her first choice alternative. This force on her has now ensured that Pranab may not be relegated to the shadows.

The NDA may agree to support the Congress get its Prez if, in the bargain, it is allowed to get a Vice Prez. This complete present silence on the part of the BJP has resulted in making it a small time player (albeit with a large chunk of votes) in the present game. It is being perceived as a true ‘baniya’ party waiting to rake in its profits when the market rises. The interest and image of the nation matters little for the BJP.

Elderly Indians may remember the VV Giri Presidential election which had sizzled and sparkled at that time. Young Indians may find the goings-on now quite revolting.