People146;s scientist

When Congress leaders get a moment of solitude away from their serial meetings with Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh, they should consider this. How did the Samajwadi Party8217;s slick occupation of the space vacated by the Left acquire credibility? How is it that Yadav can so easily present his change of mind on the Indo-US nuclear deal by invoking the national interest? In a parliamentary system, governments are often compelled to resort to extreme measures to keep the confidence of the House and get on with the business of running the country. But the SP comes to its negotiations with the government with such a rich history of anti-Congressism, and personal antagonism against its top leadership, that Yadav clearly felt the need for an intermediary counsel to secure his political move from charges of outright cynicism.

It is to former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam8217;s credit that he played that role, and played it in such a bipartisan manner. On Thursday, he agreed to meet the SP leaders, who said they needed an 8220;expert8221; to assess the PMO8217;s clarification on their concerns. Kalam, well accustomed to being the people8217;s scientist, emphasised to the SP leadership India8217;s acute need for nuclear energy, and allayed apprehensions that it impacted India8217;s freedom to conduct a nuclear test. But this is primarily a moment for the Congress to look back at its own conduct 8212; in dealing with Kalam, but even more in assessing the suitability of presidential candidates.

Last year this time, there was a most unprecedented politicisation of the presidency. The UPA, caught between a desire to have a predictable occupant in Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Left8217;s attempt to show it clout by blackballing the Congress8217;s preferred candidates, kept working itself into a corner. A corner from where it struggled to explain how Pratibha Patil matched the attributes that recommended Kalam in these times of partisan politics: a reputation for zero political partisanship or motive, a relationship directly with the people without governmental mediation. In this struggle, Kalam was unnecessarily drawn into political controversies not of his making. Once he relinquished the post, he issued a positive appraisal of the nuclear deal. Even then he was snubbed by the government. Kalam, by his conduct this week, has shown that he did not allow that humiliation to embitter him into being obstructionist. Yet another reason for the UPA to acknowledge the need for a neutral broker in the affairs of state.