State of head

Presidential elections are when the political class votes to pick the winner. But since, and unlike citizen-voters, voters in these elections also pick candidates, the campaign offers rich clues to the intellect and maturity of those about to exercise their franchise. So far, including what one has gleaned from birthday parties and dinners, there is little evidence of either intellect or maturity. To take only a few indications. NDA candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat is considered a significant challenger because he can get Thakurs to ignore party loyalties. Much is made of Shekhawat’s deft handling of the Rajya Sabha and his smooth interpersonal skills, but the Thakur factor is really what the BJP is banking on. BJP ally Bal Thackeray tells everyone he will instruct Sena MPs and MLAs to vote for Shivraj Patil — if Patil is the UPA candidate — because the home minister is a pukka Maharashtrian and further warns the NCP that to vote against a son of the soil would mean political death in Maharashtra.

The Congress is the worst offender. It has been agonising for weeks, trying to find that perfect loyalist. He or she must be just sensible enough to know what the top leadership wants but not blessed with so much thinking ability that he or she may actually grow on the job and acquire a real identity. No wonder Pranab Mukherjee, a genuinely thinking politician, is not reported to be the favourite. But Mukherjee has his uses — he’s a Bengali, and so he calls Jyoti Basu, another Bengali, to try and get Marxists to agree to the Congress’s choice. The Left from Bengal of course places Bangla over biplab (revolution); remember the violent protests of Left MPs over the maritime institute bill in Parliament. Will Karunanidhi, reportedly yet to formally make his preferences known, throw a Tamil twist? Mayawati, with a well-earned reputation for throwing twists, seems to have been persuaded by what is no doubt a wholly unrelated event in Lucknow’s Raj Bhavan. All in all, a truly sorry spectacle and one that should make citizen-voters really despair.

Indian voters, as recently as in UP elections, have demonstrated that narrow community, parochial considerations can be set aside in the quest for something better. But India’s politicians are saying the search for something better is foolish. Better to look for a Thakur, a Maratha manush, Bengali connections, family faithfuls. It is hard not to wonder sometimes whether Indians really have the politicians they deserve. Hard not to wonder, too, whether we’ll get a president we deserve.