The choice of Vice-President K. R. Naryanan by the Congress and the United Front for the Presidency while eschewing the claims of T. N. Seshan is another instance of futile symbolism triumphing over substantive need in Indian politics.The herd reaction of these parties is evident in following the tradition implanted by Indira Gandhi of finding a candidate pliable to the Executive's wishes, who would not object to the complicit ways of the political class. For that motivation alone, the candidacy of Narayanan is unfortunate and recalling his style of political functioning it is obvious that he is ideally suited for the ceremonial dimension of the Presidency which the politicians would like to see him limited to. What has clinched the issue for Narayanan is the discomfort among political circles that Seshan has caused by throwing his hat in the ring.Surely no individual has shown gumption in containing the devious instincts of the politicians, thus transforming the way that politics is conducted in this country. Politicians will have concluded that Seshan's natural irreverence and his facility with the law will traverse the cutting edge of Presidential license, a spectacle that none of them would enjoy.The President ideally ought to be an individual who represents no partisan interests and is distinguished for significantly affecting the course of the nation. Narayanan happens to be the ideal candidate for the majority of the political class which does not wish to endure Seshan's eccentricities but are keen to display something, albeit symbolic, in the 50th year of independence. It is incredible, that for all his learning, Narayanan wishes to be the recipient of a blatant paternalism which chooses him primarily because he is a dalit.Does he not realise that the acclaim for his erudition is actually a veiled appreciation for his agreeable disposition? For Narayanan has for long been, as C. S. Lewis might have said, a dalit without a chest. He has been groomed for this role for a while now and has served as Vice-President with the customary distinguished silence, and sadly, that's all there has been to him for as long as one can remember. No massacre of dalits, no statistic of deprivation, has moved him enough to disagree with the powers-that-be in his long association with politics. At least, Shankar Dayal Sharma for all his faith in Puttaparthi Sai Baba and the pantheon of gods did not resist from passionately denouncing the demolition of Babri Masjid. Where in Narayanan's record has been his moment of reckoning that his choice is considered representative of the dalits? In democracies you are mostly as good as the noise that you make and Narayanan's empathy for his people has never been obvious enough to make a difference. Sure, the President is supposed to transcend this particularism but then why should he be called a dalit candidate in the first place and why doesn't he object to that as a qualification?This reasoning is also applicable to the choice of Vice-President where, for instance, Margaret Alva has emerged as an unlikely option. To what does she owe her political standing for being a representative of Christians or belonging to Indira Gandhi's coterie? Is she known to have taken up any cause of the Christian community? Has she vociferously taken up the most crucial cause affecting majority of the 21 million Christians, i.e., the reservations of Dalit Christians? Alva's nomination will no more be a favour to the Christians any more than George Fernandes' will be. If the candidates on view have not been stalwarts for the communities they belong whose purpose do their elections serve?Narayanan's eventual accession to the Presidency will only reinforce the impression among the middle classes and middle castes, who are the most politically influential and feudal-minded segment of the population, that dalit appeasement is truly real, which in practice is not and breed the resentment which dalits in workplaces and elsewhere can do without. The symbolism of Narayanan's candidacy mirrors the current ceremonial nature of the Presidency while Seshan's as President for all his horoscopic motivations at least provides the hope that somebody will be willing to take up the bully pulpit that our politicians need.
