Vice President……much ado about much less

For over a month now, the tussle over the presidential election is going on. Long-time friends have turned foes & allies are pitted against each other. Despite the fact that most of the parties claim that they want the election to be consensus based and above political ‘tauntocracy’, each one of them is trying their fullest to gain political mileage from these elections. This has even led to loyalty differences within a party. An example of this is the candidature of P A Sangma who quit his party Nationalist Congress Party which is an all-weather ally of the Indian National Congress. He has now become a strong contender against his good old friend Pranab Mukherjee, the UPA nominee. On the other hand, parties like JD – (U), DMK and Trinamool Congress are waiting for the tide to turn in a particular direction to jump into the winning bandwagon.

The two major alliances, UPA and NDA, competing to be in power in the Centre are using this election as the preparing ground for the 2014 parliamentary elections. In this case the nomination of candidates assumes more importance as it can become either a precursor for the forging of new alliances. On the other hand, the nomination of a particular candidate can prove to be the alliance breaker. The best example of this is the opposition of the UPA candidate, Pranab Mukherjee, by the all-important partner in UPA – the Trinamool Congress. The presidential election may, well, be termed as indicator of the mood of the various parties before the 2014 parliamentary elections.

In the midst of all this, the election to the post of Vice President has also gained momentum with various contenders springing up for this post. The Vice President’s election which would earlier be done by consensus has now gained ground as a battle of Prestige and Honour for the different parties with each party trying to present such candidates which would prove their ‘inclusive’ and ‘secular’ image. The ruling coalition is most likely to nominate someone from the, supposedly, unrepresented sections of the population. But what remains to be seen is what really would the Vice President from the ‘unrepresented’ section of the population do good to them. The examples of previous Vice Presidents stare in anguish at those who claim to do good to these sections by electing a President or a Vice President from them. Mohammad Hamid Ansari (the incumbent), Prof. Saifuddin Soz, Dr. Farooq Abdullah & J M Lyngdoh (former Chief Election Commissioner) are some of the names doing rounds.

Talking about the Kashmiri Muslim perspective to this election, even if India does get to have a Kashmiri Muslim Vice President, I don’t think it would be of any immense good to the people of this state in particular although it may help the Centre to project a ‘secular’ and ‘inclusive’ image of itself in the international community. The post of the President in a parliamentary democracy like India is largely a ceremonial one and no concrete decision making power lies in the hands of the president, except for approving (formally) what has already been approved by the two houses of the Parliament. While observing the political hopscotch, one can clearly see the handicap of the president in taking any concrete decision on his own. Talk of the Vice President; he is way behind the President in this respect except that he can adjourn the Rajya Sabha in his own capacity for a particular time if he deems it fit. Even the Rajya Sabha is most of the times presided over by the Deputy Chairman (in absence of the Vice President). In my opinion, it would be better to have a powerful and important portfolio in the Central cabinet for a Local Politician than a post, the incumbent of which is meant for Ceremonial Foreign tours, Ceremonial receptions of foreign heads & laying of floral wreaths at Raj Gath or other Samadhis!