Call it the triumph of ‘realism’ over ‘romanticism’ or whatever, but the belated decision of the Congress to support the candidature of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam indicates a lack of political savvy. The party had five long years to choose a nominee for the president’s post, which it knew will fall vacant in July. Although the incumbent president, K.R. Narayanan, had made it known that he was available for a second term only if there was a consensus on his candidature among all the mainstream parties, the Congress did not think of an alternative name. It caused considerable embarrassment to Narayanan when his name was dragged into a controversy, mainly to scuttle the chances of the BJP’s first preference and Maharashtra governor, P.C. Alexander.Had the Congress promptly welcomed the nomination of Kalam and extended him support, it could even have taken credit for his victory which is almost certain. After all, Kalam is a product of the Congress era and it was R. Venkataraman, as the then defence minister, who had entrusted him with the task of developing an indigenous missile technology. Instead, it spent two days mulling over his name before finally deciding to lend him support. In the end, the Congress is a net loser. In the process, it ended up antagonising the Left, which has remained one of its steadfast allies. The Left never approved of Kalam’s candidature for two reasons — he was a BJP nominee and he did not deserve the nomination as he was never in public life and had no exposure to the working of the Constitution. That the Left has fielded Captain Lakshmi Sehgal of INA fame as presidential candidate against Kalam now symbolises the strained relations between the Congress and the Left parties.A fallout of the Congress flip-flop is that its legislators and parliamentarians will now have to vote in favour of a candidate fielded by the BJP against the one fielded by the Left, whose secular credentials are impeccable. Another significant lesson that can be drawn from the drama is that the Congress has failed in giving purposeful leadership to the Opposition. It even failed to prevent the breaking up of the People’s Front, which could have come in handy in its fight against the BJP. In any case, competitive secularism by the two formations has left the nation with a presidential candidate who is as yet an unknown quantum. The bitterness of a contest is what the nation had expected of its political leadership to avoid, especially in these times when our armed forces are in combat readiness on the border. But, once again, the people have been let down by their political leaders for whom oneupmanship mattered much more than national interest.
