President of India

Now there is politics about the new president of the country. Consensus candidate or a contested candidate that is the question. A moot question indeed. But the political polemics notwithstanding, this position even though titular is clearly the highest office of the country. Last time we saw, a diminutive Pratibha Patil, insipid, unsung and verily vapid, catapult into the top seat of the country.  A proclaimed loyalist of the Nehru – Gandhi family. Intriguingly, a family, that has merely a matri-linear link to Nehru, and actually no link to Gandhi, has nevertheless managed to usurp and copyright the Nehru-Gandhi appellation and milk its equity.

If you would browse the CV of Patil, she is merely a bachelors in law. But it appears, she has fought elections only to win and has never lost one. But in India we all know, how elections are won. I have never one bit doubted the sagacity of the Indian electorate, despite low literacy of its sizeable majority. But the whole electoral systems needs an overhaul. A system that is throwing some most undesirable people into high positions of public service like MPs and MLAs, clearly is crying for an overhaul.

Scrap the first past the post system, or scrap the multiple party multiple candidate system without endangering the Ferderal Structure and without undermining the constitutional pillars of our democracy.

Hamid Ansari for president, will make another insipid candidate after Patil, if he manages to steal the race from others. But of course, his credentials are much better. A civil servant of a batch 7 years before I was born. Therefore old. And this is another phenomenon that I can never understand. Why do we hunt out such old people for such positions. In the parliamentary system, the president’s is essentially a ceremonial office, but its passivity gets compounded by the shear age of the incumbents. Who can deny, that with age, as much as wisdom may not get impaired but even enhanced, energy levels seriously are.

Take a look at the BRICS document of the Delhi Summit. It is a clear pointer of the fact that emerging geographies if they would open their markets to advanced countries, it would not be without extracting their pound of flesh. They would like to have a say in world affairs. They would like to participate in deciding the fate of Iran or at least protect their interest with Iran.

In this changing scenario, when India is, along with emerging geographies deciding to throw its weight in global decision making, and is keenly wanting to eschew its position of a passive or at best fringe player, the position of president assumes even greater significance.

In the new normal, as economic development and growth gravitate to Asia, as China cedes some growth to India, as other markets like Vietnam etc. wait in the wings to outstep the best in GDP growth rate, as Russia prepares for the presidency of the G20 in 2013, as India ramps up its trade with Africa to USD 90 bn, that we have a president who is dynamic and can represent us such forums is extremely critical.