Public in Republic

Barring a truly spectacular twist to the story so far, Pratibha Patil will get enough votes today to be the republic8217;s next president. For the last several weeks, as Congress election managers stonewalled questions about their controversial candidate, they were counting on the certainty of this outcome. They were counting on something more: that once Patil is ensconced in the house atop Raisina Hill, she will be insulated from all criticism. That as denizen of Rashtrapati Bhavan, she will be quarantined from calls for accountability. Today8217;s election, their calculation is, will present the people of India with an irrefutable 8212; and hallowed 8212; fait accompli.

The Congress8217;s calculus jars for several reasons. To begin with, it is unseemly that the election to the highest office of the world8217;s largest democracy is being propelled by brute numbers alone. Many will argue that it has always been so. Yet the numbers game has loomed especially large over this election and that has disquieting implications for the future. The unvarnished maths that will catapult Patil to the most prestigious address in the country will surely diminish the institution of president, especially its capacity to provide a unifying symbol by rising above the fractious politics of the day. Two, the Congress has misread the temper of the times. The run-up to this presidential election has demonstrated that the relationship between the people and power, or the people and their institutions, is changing in dramatic ways. No longer is the president a remote person and institution. Today, she will bask in greater public attention, but she will also have to take the scrutiny and field the questions.

The change is not all due to the coming of new technologies and wider access to them. The new ways of seeing have also to do with a waning of deference and the establishing of a more intimate 8212; and more irreverent 8212; equation with our institutions. In a democracy, this is a welcome development. The onus of change is on the Congress.