Church and choosing the new President of India
JOHN DAYAL
Political pundits, and the street soothsayers, are sure that
Purno Sangma, former Speaker of the Lok Sabha, former Union Minister, former
Chief minister of Meghalaya and currently a member of the Nationalist Congress
Party, is not going to be elected the next President of the Republic of India.
And yet, at least two major church organisations in the
country have backed Sangma as their choice of the first Christian and the first
Tribal Head of State of the 62 year old Republic. And many others are taken up
by the baby faced devout Catholic famously remembered as much for the drinks he
serves at his residence as for carrying the statue of Infant Jesus on his head
in his parish procession.
Purno has sought high
office all along after he found himself as the Congress Party’s choice of
Speaker of the Lok Sabha. In that office, he earned brownie points for
presenting a jovial face in a house where rustic humour and not urbane wit was
the norm, and confrontations, then as now, often ended up in vicious mayhem in
what is called the “well” of the House. But he remained a political lightweight
despite his family’s rule in the tiny northeast state he calls home. And
therefore he was given no credence when he thought he could become prime
minister or president.
In fact he found himself in the political boondocks when he
targeted Sonia Gandhi for her Italian birth at the dawn of United Progress
Alliance –I [UPA-I], exiting the
Congress saying it would be a national shame if Gandhi were ever to be made
Prime Minister. He joined Sharad Pawar
in forming the Nationalist Congress Party, but has not been a major figure till
he suddenly hit the headlines as the presidential nominee of Orissa’s chief minister Naveen Patnaik and Tamil Nadu
chief minister J Jayalalitha. Not surprisingly, Sharad Pawar has disowned him
and said he will back whosoever Sonia Gandhi chooses. The Opposition National Democratic
Alliance of the BJP of course will not have anything to do with him either.
So why did a section of the Christian community back him so
vociferously? The roots lie in the community’s
political naiveté. Barring a discussion in the Andhra organisation of
all local churches, there has not been a debate even at the diocesan level on
this important issue. Are we saying we
have not trust in Rashtrapati Bhawan hopefuls Pranab Mukherkee, Manmohan Singh,
former Bengal Governor Gopal Gandhi, and current Vice President Ansari? Do we
think only a person of our community can safeguard our interests?
Perhaps it would have been better for churches, educators,
social scientists and activists from the clergy and laity to have come together
and discussed the issue and then made a statement giving not names of
individuals but the qualities the community looked for in Presidential and Vice
Presidential candidates, irrespective of their religious identity.
The community could have listed qualities and commitments
they sought : A distinguished academic and career record; a sensitivity towards
issues of the poor, the Tribals, the backward and the marginalised, towards
Dalits in general and Dalit Christians in particular; and no whisper of any
sectarian or communal bigotry.
This would rule out the Facebook and Twitter candidates –
celebrities such as Shah Rukh Khan, Amir
Khan, Sachin Tendulkar, the two women, including the one who is a Christian,
who sent those missiles and rockets up -- a la President Kalam – and uban
middle class icons Hazare, Kiran Bedi and Agnivesh, Navin Chawla who wrote a book
on Mother Teresa, and officials from the civil and defence services.
The community would have to apply the same criteria of
excellence even for a Christian candidate. One former minister said in many
public meetings that they had won not on the Christian vote in their
constituencies but because of the vote of the Hindus, and were therefore, could
not be asked to focus on the Christian community.
This argument explains why the Christian representatives in Parliament
have not succeeded in winning battles for the political issues pertaining to
the community --so apparent in the Right to Education Act, the Article 341
(iii) issue relating to the Scheduled Caste rights of Dalit Christians, and
scores of other issues that emerge from Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh,
Himachal, Rajasthan, Karnataka and so on. The two Anglo Indian MPs in the Lok
Sabha are not there as representatives of the microscopic Anglo Indian
community.
There are, of course, many Christian names to consider, possibly for
the Vice President’s post. Foremost among them, I would say, is Rajasthan
Governor Margaret Alva who has kept her political record clean, has practiced
her faith openly, and has a strong political lineage. She could perhaps also
reach out to the vote banks of women party heads such as Mamta, Mayawati and
Jayalalitha with whom she has personal rapport. Former Orissa governor and Indian
Administrative Service retired officer
MM Rajendran's name has been also suggested, though he has been politically
inactive for a very long time and has therefore slipped off the political
radar. Governor Jamir from Nagaland has also been shortlisted by some Christian
organisations. There are several others too. All political lightweights.
If the community really wants a Christian President, it must
be prepared for heart-break, now and possibly for many years to come. Even if a
Christian were to be elected in some miracle. once in office, he or she would
not be able to address our issues openly, tied as he or she would be in
protocol and the structure of the government. Even if he or she were to reject
a Bill, for instance if a future government were to bring about a national bill
against conversions in India [several states have this law], at best she may
end it back for reconsideration by the government, but if it cam back a second
time, the President would have no role in it becoming the law of the land.
But one fears it is much too late this time. The community
nationally is politically absolutely not really relevant, not enough to even
have a Christian name in the serious political discourse preceding the
Presidential elections.
The RSS in the current issue of its mouthpiece Organiser and
Panchjanya charges Christians, specially Catholics, of being the caucus around
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and her sword arm in governance, so to say.
They even identify Jews with Christian or Biblical names to be part of this lobby.
What we actually need
is larger Christian participation in the grass roots political systems of
India, from the Panchayat upwards, and a larger participation in the civil
services. Our voice must be heard at all levels, instead of expecting a
Christian minister or MP or MLA waving the magic wand. The President of India
does not have this magic wand as he or she remains a figurehead, the central
figure in set-piece national functions doing the bidding of the Council of
Ministers, which of course is chosen by the political party or parties in
power.
[These are my personal views and do not necessarily reflect
the discourse in the All India Christian Council and the All India Catholic
Union, and any other organisation I am a member of in the
Church and the Government.]
