Saturday, June 23, 2007

The 'P' factor..

I've never been very politically inclined, but a recent turn out of events have definitely made me to think otherwise. A lot of people, especially those in political circles would be setting up an eye on the next month's presidential elections.

After having considered names like Pranab Mukherji, Karan Singh and Sivraj Patil, the UPA eventually came up with its candidate's name - Pratibha Patil Shekhawat(ab ye kaun hai yaar..;)), the Rajasthan Governer (literally i didn't even know that) and it seems certain that she will be our first lady President. She seems to be getting support from a wide quarter. Her marathi roots has actually provoked Shiv Sena boss Bal Thackeray to begin drumming up support for her even in BJP. Strange, isnt it?

I'm a firm believer of the phrase "Equality of Sexes". For India to make a mark globally, liberisation of women(almost half of our population) is probably as important as any other issue and one can say that having a lady President is like having a step forward in the right direction. Things are definitely not as bad as they were a quarter of century ago. Indian women have taken considerable leaps in the course of time and things can only become better from here on. I also strongly believe a person should be given a fair run before coming to any conclusion on him. However, at this moment of time i'm certainly having these apprehensions on Mrs Patil being the first citizen of the nation.

Although, she seems to have the required experience - she has been on the Marathi political circuit for almost 4 decades now. But, as youths of this country, do we really want a President who we cannot even look up to and aspire. According to me, the President should be a person who has the credentials to inspire the nation, especially its youths. He should be an ambassador of the brand 'India' to the outer world, should be dynamic and most importantly a role model for the rest of the nation and at the moment it seems unlikely that Mrs Patil will be able inspire a nation where more than half the population is below the age of 40. For me, its like being a CEO of a company (although the Indian President does not have powers to run the country..I guess 'Chief Mentor' is right term ;)..yes,yes.. i know i have learnt this term in Infy..;)), where it is absolutely necessary for the company to have the best person at the top.

If we have a look at the last 4 Presidents that we have had(last 4 because i was not able to recall who the President was before that), i.e APJ Abdul Kalam, K.R.Narayan, Shankar Dayal Sharma and Venkataraman, apart from Abdul Kalam no one else seemed to have the persona to be the first citizen of the country. Ofcourse, no one can question their accomplishments in their respective fields but none of them had that 'Chief Mentor' quality that I talked about earlier. Kalam not only had the intellect, the credentials but he also ensured that he remained a people's President and spent a lot of time with school kids and the poor.

I might not be in a position to nominate the right person as the President in this post but as I said I would always like to see someone whom i can idolise. Unfortunately, at this moment, there is a big question mark on my mind as far as Pratibha Patil is concerned.

8 comments:

The Wanderlust said...

I adore ur views. Leaving Kalam, I dont think, we had a Rashtrapati..to become our icon.

Anonymous said...

well said...but we are the people who have elected these bunch of idiots(politicians).
We, the people of india have to make sure that the next time we cast our votes it goes to the right person.

somewhere some time u might have felt like why to vote for candidates in politics, why bcoz nobody is a good candidate.
If u dont vote for this candidates what happens... some people will vote for them and will elect the candidate.
But this is not ur intension. is it right.

U feel nobody is a good candidate. if there is a good candidate u can vote. right. then what to do. how u can get
good candidates. or atleast how u can eliminate bad candidates.. ......... .....

this is how u can do.......... ........


Section 49-O of the Constitution:

Did you know that there is a system in our constitution, as per the
1969 act, in section "49-O" that a person can go to the polling booth,
confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey the presiding
election officer that he doesn't want to vote anyone!

Yes such a feature is available, but obviously these seemingly
notorious leaders have never disclosed it. This is called "49-O".

Why should you go and say "I VOTE NOBODY"... because, in a ward, if a
candidate wins, say by 123 votes, and that particular ward has received
"49-O" votes more than 123, then that polling will be cancelled and
will have to be re-polled. Not only that, but the candidature of the
contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling,
since
people had already expressed their decision on them. This would bring
fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates for their
parties
for election. This would change the way, of our whole political
system... it is seemingly surprising why the election commission has
not
revealed such a feature to the public....

So what are u waiting for do some good for society by eliminating bad candidates.. ......... ......... ......... ........

dont read and forget, put it in practice.... .....helpful for nation...... ..

With Love
Ashish

Vansh said...

To really believe in equality of sexes we should not even talk about it.. If equality of sexes and Mrs being women is used as an agenda or her positives to became president then I think it is againt men and definitly not equality of sexes....
Vansh

Unknown said...

Well said Abhishek. I agree with you fully . Pratibha was definitely not on the cards for Presidential Elections but she managed to emerge as a dark horse. But then we people have chosen those beaurocrats!!!!

There have been many articles out on the internet on 'Elections'. I would love to ask people, who read those articles and went ahead to vote. I may manage hearing a 'yes' in a 100 replies, the rest are obvious!!!

If i create a poll in this blog - "Did you vote?" and ask people to vote in either 'yes' or 'no'; how many yes'es do i expect??? I still wonder if we are able to choose the right candidate, whats the probability that the right candidate will keep going in the right directions??

Abhishek Nath said...

@raja da..
thnx a lot for dropping by

@ashish
dude..thi is actually a wonderful piece of info u have given..i'm sure nt many wud be aware of it..we can surely try the next time we get to vote

@vansh
i guess u r right..thnx for reading though

@nitin
its high time that the youths take up more responsibilities..after all its our country n we got to take care of it :)

Unknown said...

Know her before it gets too late..

http://www.knowpratibhapatil.com

do not forget to have a look at the videos.

Anonymous said...

Hey Hero.. Seems like you are rocking..!!!!!!!!! I think you are rocking.....
Keep it up...
Thoughts of NewGen.........

Dev

AMIT said...

I like your views nice shared.

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