Meira Kumar’s candidature takes the Dalit wind out of BJP’s sail

The presidential race for 2017 is finally set between Ram Nath Kovind and Meira Kumar. Both hail from the Dalit community. The 2017 presidential election is, thus, an entirely Dalit affair.

The BJP had planned to put the Congress-led opposition camp on backfoot by putting up a Dalit nominee for the top job. Their managers, with media backing, took pains to publicise the Dalit background of Ram Nath Kovind, who hails from the Dalit Koli sub-caste. Their target was to sow seeds of confusion and, also, split the Opposition ranks by converting the presidential election into a caste issue.

The BJP strategy, however, failed to a great extent on Thursday when the Congress-led Opposition camp decided to put up Meira Kumar, also a Dalit, as the joint Opposition candidate for the job of next President of India.

Congress president Sonia Ganhdi is reported to have been pitching Meira’s candidature from the time when Opposition leaders first met to discuss their strategy for the ongoing presidential race.

There were differences at that time as both Trinamool Congress and the Left parties were more inclined towards Gopalkrishna Gandhi than Meira Kumar.

Modi’s move to put up a Dalit as the NDA candidate lent force to Sonia Gandhi’s initial move which got wider support from a large chunk of Opposition leaders, who attended the meeting on Thursday.

Those who attended the joint Opposition parties’ meeting held at Parliament House Library from Congress included Sonia Gandhi, Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mallikarjun Kharge. Other prominent leaders from the Opposition parties were Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar and Lalu Prasad Yadav of the RJD.

Trinamool Congress and Left parties’ leaders were keen from the beginning to put up a joint candidate against the BJP nominee. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee was on a foreign trip. She deputed her representative Derek O’ Brien. The Samajwadi Party was represented by Ramgopal Yadav while Satish Mishra attended on behalf of the BSP.

The Left parties were represented by Sitaram Yechury and D Raja.

It was a group of 17 Opposition parties, which included JD-S, RSP, JMM, Kerala Congress, Indian Union Muslim League and the AIUDF of Assam. From among the regional groups, DMK’s Kanimozi and the National Conference’s Omar Abdullah attended the Congress-sponsored meeting. Even RLD chief Ajit Singh joined the Opposition conclave.

The Congress president appealed to all Opposition leaders to back Meira Kumar. It is yet not clear whether all those present there would also be backing Kumar’s candidature. But the decision to put up Meira Kumar to rival Ram Nath Kovind has taken the Dalit wind out of the BJP sails.

Kovind is a sure winner as the numbers are with him. But the contest itself is important because the ongoing presidential election is more a battle of ideas rather than a routine contest between political parties.

Kovind, backed by Modi and the BJP, is the representative of the Hindutva idea of India while Meira Kumar represents the founding fathers’ idea of an India based on democracy, liberalism and pluralism.

The covert battle of ideas has converted the ongoing presidential race into one of the most interesting contests of modern times. The Congress-led Opposition camp’s decision to put up Meira Kumar as their candidate in this context turns significant and historic. It is the contest rather than the victory which is important in this round of presidential election.