The Presidential election

I am not sure how many people are following the Presidential election in India right now but it soon seems to be turning into a huge farce. To put things into perspective, the whole issue snowballed out of proportion when Mr.APJ Abdul Kalam was being touted in the media as the favourite choice of most of the people in India. People also felt that they needed an apolitical person if he wasn't re-elected. However the behaviour of the politicians in India needs serious introspection on our part.

First the Left parties were opposed to him on reasons that they could not articulate very well. This is despite the fact that he is a figure respected by many in the World and is admired almost everywhere he goes. He is a scholar on the Gita and is a Muslim by birth. Surely this must have been enough for the so called secular alliance to re-nominate him as the President. However the Left has shown that they are no better than others they claim to despise when protecting their vested interests(read Somnath Chatterjee). Surely a divisive figure such as Somnath who doesn't enjoy the support of the BJP shouldn't be foisted upon the country as a President if the Left believes that the President should be one who unites the country.

But Congress showed yesterday that they could stoop to much lower levels than the Left when they proposed Pranab Mukherjee, Sushil Kumar Shinde(Who?) and Karan Singh as candidates for the presidency. If you look at these candidates, does anyone in India think these honourable gentlemen have the stature to be the President of India? The next name that the Left will throw out is Jyoti Basu- a nonagenarian non-entity. This Presidential election was a chance for all the major parties to prove that they respected the wishes of the Indian people. Alas the Congress and the Left have shown that they are not holier than the BJP when it comes to petty politics.