President!

The President of India is the head of state of the Republic of India. The President is the formal head of the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary branches of Indian Democracy and is the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. The Powers to pardon and clemency vests with the President of India. Just these words make me feel that it is suppose to be the most respected and in all senses a sacred post. The current debate about who is going to be the next President of India is breaking all the dignity and standards of the post. Well, what is the reason for that? What I can understand is that that the post of the President is being politicized. And politicized from the time Sh. APJ Abdul Kalam ended his tenure as the President. That was the time I realized that how important is that post because I was too young when Sh. Kalam was being elected. I just had read President in my civics book. But now when I started understanding the political system of the country, I realized how bad was Congress and for that sake some other parties in politicizing everything. Congress and some other political parties have the power to politicize everything, from a poor kid’s death from mal nutrition to a starving farmers’ suicide; from a riot control activity to ‘minority interest’; from brave police officers death in Mumbai attack to Batla house encounter. And from last 5 years they are busy politicizing the most respected office of the Republic of India ‘President’. Yes they do say it’s a rubber stamp position, but Head of the Country should be held by a person of high repute, respect and who is not just another person who has been picked by some foreign national (acting as the head of government). So in last 5 years India have seen a Rubber Stamp Prime Minister and a President and for me the last 5 years have been the most shameful 5 years as the citizen of this country. Let’s have a look at who all were the Presidents from the time I was born. 1. Sh. Ramaswamy Venkatraman (1987-1992): Supreme Court Lawyer, a freedom fighter and an alumni of Loyola College Madras. 2. Sh. Shanker Dayal Sharma (1992-1997): Gradute from St. John’s college, Agra, Punjab University and Lucknow University. Gold Meadlist from Cambridge University and taught there as well. 3. Sh. KR Narayanan (1997-2002): This is what Wikipedia says about him: “Born in Perumthanam, Uzhavoor village, in the princely state of Travancore and after a brief stint with journalism and then studying political science at the London School of Economics with the assistance of a scholarship, Narayanan began his career in India as a member of the Indian Foreign Service under the Nehru administration. He served as ambassador to Japan, United Kingdom, Thailand, Turkey, China and United States of America and was referred by Nehru as "the best diplomat of the country". He entered politics at Indira Gandhi's request and won three successive general elections to the Lok Sabha and served as a Minister of State in the Union Cabinet under former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Narayanan is regarded as an independent and assertive President who set several precedents and enlarged the scope of the highest constitutional office. He described himself as a "working President" who worked "within the four corners of the Constitution"; something midway between an "executive President" who has direct power and a "rubber-stamp President" who endorses government decisions without question or deliberation. He used his discretionary powers as a President and deviated from convention and precedent in many situations, including - but not limited to — the appointment of the Prime Minister in a hung Parliament, in dismissing a state government and imposing President's rule there at the suggestion of the Union Cabinet, and during the Kargil conflict. In the country's general election of 1998 became the first Indian President to vote when in office, setting another new precedent.” 4. Sh. APJ Abdul Kalam: The name says it all! Now I am not going to describe the current President of this country as I already feel ashamed of having such a President heading the country. It seems like she was the only person left. She started her career as a politician. Let me put up some words what Wikipedia says for her: “On 14 June 2007, United Progressive Alliance (UPA), the ruling alliance of political parties in India headed by the Indian National Congress, and the Indian left nominated her as their candidate for the Presidential Election to be held in July that year. She emerged as a compromise candidate after the Left parties would not agree to the nomination of former Home Minister Shivraj Patil. UPA chairwoman Sonia Gandhi proposed her: (No Indian is now capable enough even to propose a President for themselves, pity on all big names like PM Manmohan Singh, Kapil Sibbal, Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram and the whole idiot fleet) her loyalty to the Nehru-Gandhi family was widely perceived to be a major factor in her nomination (It was a President to be selected not the National Dog; loyalty). With the possibility that she might become the first female President of India, Sonia Gandhi described her nomination as a "historic occasion" (Coz never in the History of India we had such a President who was being elected because of ‘loyalty’ to some family)”. {Words in bracket are additions and not from wiki}. So what is happening is that this country has now a battalion of heads who are there because they are ‘loyal’ to a family and not the country. This is one of the worst phases in the history of this country. At least spare the President! We do not need one more rubber stamp; our PM is being that for a while now. We need a President who is dynamic, reputed and not loyal to the country. The President represents India to the world and not a family. It’s about 121 cr people of this country. There are hugely reputed people in this country who are not politicians. May it be Sh. APJ Abdul Kalam or the CEC or Sh. Harish Salve etc. But please spare us from a politician. Because if again a Compromise President is elected or a politician or some body loyal to ‘THE FAMILY’, then believe me, this country is going to be in huge unrest. Signing off Siddharth