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Its
not only cricket where the Indian cricket control board eventually
put Zaheer Khan and then Mohammad Kaif
into their national squad which led to India’s team victory
against the Englishmen.
Surprisingly and litigiously to their manifesto BJP-led Hindu
fundamentalist ruling coalition also
decided to bring a Muslim into India’s highest office in the Rashtrapati
Bhavan to rebuild India’s
deteriorating image as a secular nation since the world has
witnessed the systematically obliteration
of Muslims and their heritage from the demolition of Babri
Mosque to the brutal anti-Muslim violence in the western state of
Gujarat,
the largest state controlled by the BJP, and the attacks on Christians in various parts of the
country.
The
new President, Avul
Pakir Jainulabdeen
Abdul Kalam delivering his first
Presidential address, minutes after he took the oath in an
impressive ceremony at the central hall of national parliament, on
25th of July, spelt
out his vision of a resurgent India, upholding of constitutional
processes and an unflinching commitment to secularism, national
security as a priority, and speedy development aimed at elimination
of poverty and unemployment.
Dr. Abdul Kalam
- The 11th President of India
Dr.
Abdul Kalam is the 11th
President of India and the 3rd Muslim President after Zakir
Hussain (from
May 13th 1967
to
May 3rd 1969
) and Fakruddin Ali Ahmed (from
August 24th 1974
to
February 11th 1977
). He belonged to a poor family of boat-makers from the town of
Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu. He used to distribute
newspapers in his early age and is known as a workaholic. He reads
the Bhagwad Gita,
plays the Rudra veena
and recites poetry of the renowned Tamil poet Subramania
Bharati, apart from his own
verses.
A vegetarian by
choice, he leads a spartan life as
enjoined by Islam, but has assiduously practiced Brahmacharya
extolled by Hinduism. He has served as a professor for Anna
University and on top of all these, he has been recognized as the pride of
India being a strong backer
of New Delhi's
nuclear programme.
He was one of the key figures who planned and executed India's
shock nuclear
tests in 1998. There is no question about the loyalty, sincerity
and honesty of the 71 year old Dr. Kalam
for his country. One can also admire his vision and ambitions for a
developed and fair India. Yet the question in the minds of many is that will he be having so
much autonomy apart from his constitutional freedom to fulfil his
dreams to develop India as a civilized and unprejudiced society?
Well,
by analysing the obvious reasons for BJP and other Hindu
fundamentalist parties to choose Dr. Kalam
as President one finds that the decision was an ultimate option for
the political pundits to save Indian image as a secular nation in
the western world not just the fact to recompense Dr. Kalam
for his outstanding achievements in the missile and space technology
for the country. The Hindu ruling coalition and the opposition were
terribly looking to alleviate India's plunging image in the world after the
ruling BJP’s reputation was badly
scarred due to the on going brutal attacks on  Muslims
and Christians in various parts of
India
including the
horrific anti-Muslim violence this year in the western state of
Gujarat
by Hindu extremists.
One can recall that during the visit in the affected areas of
Gujarat, the Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee had said;
“Today
it is shame for us… I have to go on foreign trips…. in this
situation what kind of image of India
I am going to take with me on foreign country’s visits”.
By selecting Dr. Kalam it is the weapon
of killing
two birds with one stone.
Kalam- No Prior
Political Knowledge
One
might see the decision to back Dr. Kalam
by both the ruling and the opposition parties as s good positive
political move in the democratic system of
India
. However, the fact of
the matter is that the choice of a Muslim as President, who does not
have any prior political knowledge or experience, by the Hindu
fundamentalist political parties whom top leadership openly talks
about the annihilation of Muslims and whom prime manifesto is the
transformation of Muslims culture and heritage into Hinduism is just
another political drama. Dr. Kalam may
have sincere dreams for a secular
India
but looking into the
political intentions of the Hindu political pundit in the ruling
coalition on his selection (as President) one can simply predicts
that Dr. Kalam will be used not more
than just a secular placard.
To
understand the inner hunches of Hindu leadership, it was display
during the Presidential speech by Dr. Kalam
which has been observed by several local and international media
monitors when during the 10-minute address of Dr. Kalam,
there were thunderous applauses on his statements on various issues
but noticeably when he talked about his "unflinching commitment
to secularism which is the cornerstone of India’s nationhood and
which is the key to Indian civilisational
strength'', the decibel sound from the applause was silent. There
was no applause, as well, when he mentioned "internal
conflicts'' as one of the challenges facing India, the events in
Gujarat seem to have been on his mind.
Apparently,
Dr. Kalam was supported due to the
reasons that he possessed the pride of
India’s missiles programme and that he
belongs to the largest minority of India
(The Muslims). Therefore, logically, the secular-based parities
should have been the first ones to support him. However, conversely,
the two main communist and Janta Dal
parties which carry the secular-based manifesto did not support Dr. Kalam.
In fact these parties had nominated their own, the only opponent,
candidate, Lakshmi Sahgal,
a veteran freedom fighter who raised a women’s battalion for the
Indian National Army
in Singapore which fought against British colonial rulers in the
1940s. In fact, Lakshmi Sahgal
also accused Dr. Kalam during the
election campaign of not speaking out loudly enough against the
riots in Gujarat
, which have left more
than 1,000 people dead.
Analysing
the political intentions behind the decision to bring Dr. Kalam
as President by ruling coalition and the opposition congress one can
easily conclude that Dr. Kalam may
benefit the BJP-led ruling coalition in using him as secular placard
and continue to carry on the implementation of Hindu fundamentalist
agenda as the Congress had been doing during its period in power by
keeping few Muslim bogus political coins in its pocket to show the
world its so-called secularism. Yet the Muslims never find better
life, future, civil rights and their true representation in the
administration and mainstream politics.
Dr.
Abdul Kalam may keep the roadmap for realising
the vision of a developed India and may have sincere
dreams for developed and fair India but as history shows
like the past two Muslim Presidents, he will be another rubber
stamp in the Rashtrapati
Bhavan.
Syed
Atiq ul Hassan
Freelance
Journalist / Political Analyst.
P.O.Box:
A1113, Sydney South NSW Australia
VNM
takes no responsibility for any independent writer's opinions
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