After much hype and suspense, both the ruling party and the opposition have finally announced their candidates for the upcoming Presidential election in July. By selecting a virtually nondescript candidate in the form of Ram Nath Kovind, the ruling party surprised the opposition and force its hands to field Meira Kumar making it a Dalit v/s Dalit fight for the post of the first citizen.
Following is the comparison of both the candidates: –
- Ram Nath Kovind:-
After much speculation by the media, the BJP stumped one and all by their choosing Ram Nath Kovind as its President Candidate, whose name wasn’t discussed even once by the media. Ram Nath Kovind has kept a low profile throughout his political career and understandably very less information about him is available. Ram Nath Kovind is the current Governor of Bihar and he was appointed to this post in 2015. A two-time member of Rajya Sabha and former national spokesperson for the party, Kovind headed the BJP’s Scheduled Caste Morcha between 1999 and 2002.
Ram Nath Kovind was the Central Government Advocate in Delhi High Court from 1977 to 1979 and Central Government Standing Counsel in Supreme Court from 1980 to 1993. He became Advocate-on-Record of the Supreme Court of India in 1978. He had practised in Delhi High Court and Supreme Court for about 16 years till 1993.
He had also cleared the civil services examination but got a posting in allied services and hence didn’t join the services. Ram Nath Kovind was elected and became a Rajya Sabha MP in April 1994 from Uttar Pradesh and served for two consecutive terms for 12 years until March 2006. The opposition raised questions over his experience as an administrator forgetting that he has served as a member of various Parliamentary Committees like Home Affairs, Social Justice and Empowerment, Law and Justice and also was the Chairman of Rajya Sabha House Committee. He also served as Member of Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.
From a humble village, Paraukh near Kanpur, to Parliament and Supreme Court in Delhi to Raj Bhavan in Patna, Kovind’s journey has been that of a committed and dedicated party activist and social worker.
The area where perhaps Ram Nath Kovind scores over his rival is his work for the backward and downtrodden. During his Advocacy tenure, he took a leading role in providing free legal aid to the weaker sections of society, especially SC/ST women. His squeaky-clean image and no record of corruption acts as icing on the cake for the BJP.
However as soon as his candidature was announced, media went helter-skelter to find some taint against Ram Nath Kovind. They didn’t find anything significant but an interview cum press conference of him with Hindustan Times in 2010 ruffled quite a few feathers.
But that’s not the whole story, the detailed story and analysis can be found here.
Perhaps Ram Nath Kovind wasn’t completely wrong in opposing reservation for Muslims and Christians. At present Christians and Muslims are getting reservation in government jobs under Backward Class categories. The Question is when they are already getting reservation in backward class category why do they want reservation in Scheduled Castes category?
Kovind feared that these communities would fight elections under the SC/ST quota from the constituencies reserved specifically for Dalits.
- Meira Kumar:-
Meira Kumar arguably has a taller stature than her rival. She is the first woman to be the speaker of the Lok Sabha during the rule of UPA-II and a five-time MP. She is the daughter of Jagjivan Ram, a legendary freedom struggler who later served as the Deputy Prime Minister from 1977-1979. However, she did manage to emerge from her father’s shadows and carve out a name for herself. She is a former IFS officer and served at the embassies in Spain, UK and Mauritius. She is also a law graduate but unlike Kovind, she didn’t pursue advocacy. Meira Kumar entered electoral politics in 1985 when she joined Congress. Her debut in politics further proves her standing as a Dalit leader, as she beat powerful Dalit leaders like Ram Vilas Paswan and Mayawati to win in Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh.
Despite her father’s hometown being Bihar, Meira Kumar contested election from Delhi three times, winning two and losing one. She has also been the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment from 2004 to 2009. She was again inducted as a cabinet minister in UPA-II but resigned within a week so as to become the Speaker of the Lower House. However, despite her political acumen she couldn’t tame the Modi wave and lost by a huge margin in 2014 from her hometown Sasaram, Bihar.
Unlike Kovind who never had any differences with the BJP or RSS, Meira Kumar quit the INC in 2000 citing differences with the party. She was reinducted later in 2002.
However, despite her achievements Meira Kumar has her fair share of controversies that make her unfit for occupying Raisina Hill.
The ghost of bungalow in Lutyen’s Delhi:-
The former Lok Sabha speaker pushed for 6, Krishna Menon Marg to be converted into a memorial for her late father since the days of UPA-I. Finally using her influence as a speaker, she managed to convince the Manmohan Singh led government to grant her wish making a mockery of both the executive and the judiciary. The decision went against 2000 NDA government Cabinet note to prevent such manipulations and also it happened just a month after the Supreme Court ruling that no memorial could be housed in government houses earmarked for residential accommodation.
But the UPA-II managed to bypass the order and granted her wish in August 2013. At one point of time Meira Kumar held two bungalows in Lutyen’s Delhi after she was accommodated with 20, Akbar Road by the virtue of her being the Speaker. According to a RTI response, the government had slapped a rent bill for Rs 1.98 crore on the Krishna Menon Marg bungalow. However, Meira Kumar is accused of getting that waived when she was the speaker. Despite such damning evidence some sections still disregarded the whole controversy but INC’s latest tweet has shot the party in its foot and substantiated the allegations.
In all probability, the tweet will be deleted soon because INC just regularized the “irregularity”. In what can be termed as case of ethical corruption, where the INC acted as the victim, accused and the judge. The party waived off the dues of its own member during their rule without providing reasons and is now claiming this as an achievement. No wonder people are accusing Congress of deliberately losing elections.
Sacking Lok Sabha TV CEO
The Narendra Modi government was sworn in on 26 May,2014 but Meira Kumar was the caretaker Speaker till the new Speaker was appointed. Meira Kumar on her last day of her term i.e. June 4, sacked LSTV CEO Rajiv Mishra i.e. limited his tenure till May 31 without any reason being provided. Mishra had claimed that he was removed as Meira Kumar was upset over the Lok Sabha TV telecasting the news of her trailing and subsequent defeat from Sasaram Lok Sabha constituency. Further RTI queries revealed that the salary of Mishra(for the month of May) was also reverted by the RBI on the behest of Meira Kumar which can be seen as an act of revenge.
Meira Kumar’s achievements might appear to be slightly better than Ram Nath Kovind’s humble background but her scandals clearly make her unfit for being the first citizen. While Ram Nath Kovind is self-made whereas the other candidate symbolizes everything the INC stands for i.e. dynasty and corruption.
Ever since the announcement of his candidature the left leaning media like Huffpost are trying to discredit him in various ways possible with one being he has been chosen just because he is a Dalit.
If at all Kovind represents any section, it is that of the majority of India — rural, agrarian, economically and socially underprivileged. It is the same section that Prime Minister Narendra Modi represents.
He too was sneered at by some Lutyens’ intellectuals as “chaiwala”. The same Huffpost wants Farooq Abdullah to be made the President of India. Yes, according to Huffpost, the same Farooq Abdullah who openly backs stone pelters and doesn’t believe in the idea of India is more capable than Ram Nath Kovind for the post of the President of India.
It is clear that Meira Kumar used her position of power in trying to get favours and revenge whereas Ram Nath Kovind during his tenure as Bihar Governor wasn’t involved in a single case of confrontation with either Nitish Kumar or Lalu Prasad Yadav leading to getting praised and subsequently supported by the Bihar CM. In case of INC getting majority in 2019, and having to work with his political rivals, Ram Nath Kovind would be the best fit to perform his duties in an impartial manner.
On being asked for favours by his kin, Ram Nath Kovind said,”Maine jaise swayam safalta paayi, vaise tum log bhi mehnat karo (The way I have achieved success on my own, all of you should work hard too).”