“We want a tribal President. Pranab Mukherjee is competent
but time has come for a President from the Scheduled Tribes community,” stated
PA Sangma in an interview to one of the TV channels, he added, “It has been 60
years, there has been President from all communities but ours.” And with the bugle
cry of “tribal for President” Mr. Sangma kicked off his campaign for the August
office of India
Today it is Sangma and his supporters demandingIndia India
No one denies Sangma’s credentials to be the future President of India, what we object to is his exploitation of caste to make it to the august office. Sangma and Jayalalitha need to apologize to the Nation for having committed the heinous crime of belittling the stature of the President of India. We the people ofIndia
As Mr. Sangma continued to expound on his theme of “tribal
for President” I was reminded of a scene we are witness to daily, if you
observe at many of the small traffic islands that dot our cities there will
invariably be a bunch of street children playing. Whenever the signal turns red
and the traffic comes to a stop, one of the older kids picks up an infant and
carrying it in the arms goes from vehicle to vehicle asking for alms. As the
signal turns green the kid returns to the island and continues with the game
until the signal turns red again, when another kid picks up an infant to go
begging. There is a striking similarity in the kids using the infant as an aid
to begging and Mr. Sangma’s parading of tribal MP’s to garner support for his
bid to the Presidents office.
It is ironic that Mr. Sangma, a sitting MP, former speaker
of the Lok Sabha, erstwhile CM of
Meghalaya, former Union Cabinet Minster, stakes his claim to be the First
Citizen of India, not on the basis of his considerable achievements but on his
Scheduled Tribe status. His efforts making his tribal status the central issue
for the Presidential bid is a manifestation of the decay that has been plaguing
our body politic for years.
Sangma is not alone in trying to tarnish the Presidential
elections with the taint of caste, religion and gender based politics, according
to reports Jayalalitha and Naveen Patnaik's decision to root for PA Sangma as a
Presidential poll candidate was prompted by their "understanding"
that Sonia Gandhi would eventually pick a tribal leader as the UPA nominee. Also
there are speculations raging on the acceptability of other potential candidates
like Hamid Ansari, Meira Kumar, Abdul Kalam etc. sadly no one seems interested
in talking about their achievements, the issues seems to be focused on the
impact their respective nominations may have on the vote banks.
Today it is Sangma and his supporters demanding
Over the years we Indians have been conditioned to turn a
blind eye to the communalization and castification of policy. But to reduce the
election for the Highest Office the country has to offer, to the lowest common
denominator is sacrilegious. The President of India is not a consolation prize,
you award to a person, race or community for services rendered. It is a
position of responsibility and honor requiring the highest moral standards and
personal integrity, the President is the bulwark that protects and safeguards
the Constitution and the Citizens from the vagaries and ineptitude of the
Parliament. We the people of India
No one denies Sangma’s credentials to be the future President of India, what we object to is his exploitation of caste to make it to the august office. Sangma and Jayalalitha need to apologize to the Nation for having committed the heinous crime of belittling the stature of the President of India. We the people of
