Big Story: Second Dalit President

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s announcement of its presidential candidate for the upcoming elections has put all of the Opposition on the back foot. On Monday, BJP President Amit Shah announced that Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind, an eminent lawyer and former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, would be its candidate. The name came as a surprise for most in Delhi, where potential candidates have been the subject of discussion for almost a month now, and has immediately put the Opposition in a difficult place just as it had started to develop some coherence.

Kovind is a Dalit, a former head of the BJP’s Dalit unit and a former president of the All India Koli Samaj, a group dedicated to representing the Kolis, a scheduled caste community from Uttar Pradesh. He has spent his life working in various forums that focus on the upliftment of the downtrodden, and though past comments have suggested a consonance with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh world view, he is by no means one of the more regressive faces that the BJP could have put up. Especially in light of its last surprise pick, choosing riot-accused Adityanath to rule over the massive state of Uttar Pradesh.

If there were any doubts about what Shah was trying to do by picking a Dalit candidate for the election, union minister Ram Vilas Paswan spelled it out. “Everyone should support his [Kovind’s] candidature. Those who do not will be considered as anti-Dalit.” Not anti-Kovind, but anti-Dalit.

Most in the Opposition will have a hard time responding to that. The Opposition hoped the Presidential election, which was always going to be a victory for the BJP, would at least be politically contested in a manner that builds alliances across various parties that hope to take on the ruling party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But it will not be easy opposing a Dalit candidate, as evidenced by Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati’s immediate comment saying they would be “positive” about Kovind’s candidature – unless the Opposition also fields a Dalit.

Others have responded to these claims of tokenism, insisting that Kovind is only being propped up because of his caste, something that Paswan effectively conceded. But this argument can only be reactionary and rhetorical. The Congress, which leads the anti-BJP section, will now be forced to field a Dalit or someone from another oppressed section of society, and even then might face accusations of attempting to divide the Dalit community, a charge that has always been levelled at Brahmin-dominated parties.

This means we are likely to see two Dalit candidates for the upcoming Presidential elections. Even allowing for the fact that Kovind’s candidature might be tokenism – he doesn’t have the stature of many past candidates, including KR Narayanan, the first Dalit to become president – it is hard to see this as a bad thing. Casteism remains entrenched in Indian society, no less because of the regressive approach of parties like the BJP, which have often turned a blind eye or even empowered dominant caste groups when they conduct violence against the oppressed. The BJP’s reaction to the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, the Una protests or the insecurity felt by Dalits in Uttar Pradesh under Adityanath are testatement to this.

Having a Dalit be the head of state, responsible for signing any legislation and keeping a check on the excesses of the executive, may not solve any of this. But even the symbol of two Dalits contesting the election for the highest office in the land is powerful, and though the president’s role is often more symbolic than anything, the very presence of a Dalit in Rashtrapati Bhavan could have an effect on the BJP’s functioning – just as its expansion into the south and North East should hopefully make the party more diverse, though this comes up against the RSS’ desire for homogenous hegemony. This election was almost a given from the get-go, considering the numbers the BJP was likely to draw through other allies. If it ends up leading to more Dalits being visible in public life, it can only be a good thing.

The Big Scroll

  • Nitish Kumar puts Opposition unity on shaky ground as he seems to lean towards Ram Nath Kovind, writes Dhirendra Jha.
  • Everything you need to know about Ram Nath Kovind.

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Punditry

  1. “The farmer agitation is not just about demonetisation-induced farm deflation and poverty, it’s also about frustrations arising from unfulfilled aspirations and farmers’ understanding that other communities have progressed at their expense,” writes Ajay Vir Jakhar in the Indian Express.
  2. In the Aadhaar-PAN case, the Supreme Court has effectively held that policy goals override rights , writes Suhrith Parthasarathy in the Hindu.
  3. “The farm crisis is really a job crisis in disguise. If the jobs growth problem is handled, the farm crisis will abate steadily,” writes R Jagannathan in the Hindustan Times.
  4. “Demonetisation had a significant impact on job destruction, especially across various micro, medium and small enterprises, thereby leading to an adverse impact via the job creation channel,” says Tulsi Jayakumar in Mint.
  5. Ashok V Desai in the Telegraph pulls out interesting bits from a NITI Aayog report that looks at best practices from various states.

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