President Ram Nath Kovind has left many disappointed with his inaugural speech. It is odd that he chose to ignore mentioning India’s first Prime Minister among those who shaped the destiny of the nation and also hyphenated Mahatma Gandhi with Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, the late Jan Sangh icon, in building an egalitarian society.
One is saddened to discern an ideological tinge in the speech of the highest constitutional functionary. Given Nehru’s contribution to the freedom movement, spread over several decades, sacrifices made and his achievements in building the nation in the post-Independence era, not acknowledging him as one of the leading architects in nation-building endeavours is regrettably and grossly unfair (“Diversity key to India’s success, says Kovind”, July 26).
S.K. Choudhury,
Bengaluru
President Kovind’s first speech does convey the message that “it’s going to be a different presidency” as aptly titled in a report (July 26).
It is an egregious omission not to mention the name of the first Prime Minister, the builder of modern India, and strange to equate Mahatma Gandhi with Deendayal Upadhyaya. The BJP seems to have developed an antipathy towards Nehru, who was perhaps the most secular of our top leaders. One waits to see who the real Ram Nath Kovind will be when there is a constitutional crisis or even a hung Parliament.
He has dropped enough hints about his political thinking in his very first speech, thanks to his speech-writers either in his secretariat or the PMO.
V.N. Gopal,
Chennai
Mr. Kovind is a man of humble origins and honesty and this is reason enough for us to rejoice in him being made the President. At the same time, the joy would have been far greater had he been not from the right-wing background. His omission of Jawaharlal Nehru and K.R. Narayanan only to mention Deendayal Upadhyaya — of “integral humanism” fame — and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel have shown his inability to transcend his leanings. Unwittingly, he was only reinforcing how much India has changed and underscoring how fast Nehru’s vision of a liberal, secular state is dying along with tolerance. Given his essential goodness, he cannot be faulted if he wishes to be beholden to those who made him the President, especially the Prime Minister. The Kovind presidency will have served its purpose if it stops the wanton attacks on Dalits and exerts a moral influence on the government of the day to take radical steps to transform the lives of Dalits. It is an inexplicable paradox of contemporary Indian politics that a significant number of Dalits much prefer the BJP to other parties despite humiliation after humiliation they are made to suffer at the hands of right-wing outfits. President Kovind must make it quite clear that the Constitution cannot be tinkered with under any circumstances.
G. David Milton,
Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu
Mr. Kovind deserves all appreciation for fondly remembering the Iron Man of India while boldly omitting reference to the first Prime Minister.
It is unfortunate that the Opposition has even criticised the naming of a selfless social worker in Mr. Kovind’s speech. It is the prerogative of any personality to remember his role models. Why does one need to toe the Congress’s line which has only looked at members of the Nehru-Gandhi family?
Madhu Agrawal,
New Delhi
