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A cursory analysis of Google trends, that dipstick measure of the perturbations of people’s minds, points to a moderate spike, over the past 24 hours, in searches for Ram Nath Kovind, the NDA’s candidate for President. The fact that even Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien acknowledged that he had logged on to Wikipedia to get better acquainted with facts about Kovind – the Governor of Bihar, a State neighbouring West Bengal – speaks volumes about the area of darkness that envelops politicians beyond the top rungs of the hierarchy. In much the same way that a “superstar culture” permeates every field of endeavour from cricket (as historian Ramachandra Guha recently bemoaned) to filmdom, in politics too, the arc lights of history appear to be reserved only for the A-listers. Anyone outside of this inner circle is seen to be deserving of the spotlight only if s/he is catapulted to accidental greatness, as has happened with Kovind.
On another count, that none of the reams of media speculation in recent days about the ruling party’s candidate for the election of India’s First Citizen even got an inkling of Kovind’s name is a pointer to the limitations of journalism that revolves around access to power. The Chinese whispers about NDA’s Presidential candidate were centred largely around LK Advani and Sushma Swaraj, and it’s fair to say the media was entirely blind-sided by the eventual nominee.
Another aspect of Kovind’s candidature merits mention: the excessive emphasis, both in media commentary and in the political calculations that underlie his nomination, on his Dalit identity. Social stratification on caste lines, of course, remains an unvarnished reality, and much work remains if that benighted curse is to be lifted. But it is hard to see the elemental reduction of the man who is likely to be India’s next First Citizen to the lowest common denominator of his caste identity, overlooking the other attributes that qualify him for the post, as a step forward in the evolution of a society based on progressive values.
Venky Vembu Associate Editor
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