Being above the fray in a partisan political environment is a delicate balancing act in public life. President Ramnath Kovind seems to have addressed it by erring on the side of caution during the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, with only three engagements outside Rashtrapati Bhavan in the 83-day period between the notification of the dates for the polls on March 10 to the government formation by May 31. This is of course not counting the 10 days he spent on a state visit to South America in the interregnum.
President Kovind’s reticence seemed a counter point to the deeply bitter election campaign that threatened to wind up at the Rashtrapati Bhavan’s doorsteps at every phase.
The three events he addressed were a function on university rankings, grassroots innovations (held in Ahmedabad, his only official trip outside the Capital in that period) and a visit to the National Police Memorial on a day when the Central Reserve Police Force’s observes martyrs day.
In the meanwhile, the bitter political campaign did spill over to almost washing up at the Rashtrapati Bhavan gates.
From a letter from armed forces veterans protesting the mention of the Army by BJP leaders which made the headlines, to one from Air Marshall Suri claiming that he wasn’t a signatory to the letter as was being suggested, to a third by another set of armymen who found nothing wrong with the party’s speeches. All three were set aside, the matter left to the ECI.
Polite rebuff
Delegations from political parties including the BJP seeking appointments, from the Congress party and the Trinamool Congress were politely rebuffed.
Chief among these requests was one from the BJP which was protesting the conduct of the polls in West Bengal and another delegation to have been led by then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, which sought to convince the President of summoning an assortment of Opposition parties as a pre-poll grouping to stake claim to form the next government.
Even the national film awards function, scheduled for May 3, was postponed and the Information Ministry told to wait till the new government was in place.
While all Presidents are expected to be above the fray, was this an exercise of caution excessive? S M Khan, former press secretary to late President APJ Abdul Kalam, recalls that during the 2004 polls, Mr. Kalam had in fact addressed the nation over Doordarshan and AIR asking citizens to vote in large numbers and exercise their democratic right. “It is however true that during the poll period, even in the case of President Kalam there was a cutting back on public engagement. The degree of it, Mr Khan adds, is a matter of an individual President’s discretion.
The heat and dust of the polls now being over, President Kovind will be addressing both Houses of Parliament on June 20 for the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha. His cautious approach during the polls, a precedent for successors, and a sign of our times.
