Jayalalithaa's masterly tour de force

So, it's Purno Agitok Sangma, heading for the Rashtrapathi Bhavan, as its new occupant!

What else can it be when a powerful, sharp, smart, effective and influential personality like the AIADMK Supremo, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, puts all her weight and authority and stakes her political prestige and acumen on his behalf?

Just mark the strong words she has used in his favour: “During the past 60 years of the republic of India, while eminent personalities belonging to various communities and diverse walks of life have graced the office of the Rashtrapati, no one belonging to a tribal community has had the opportunity so far…(He) not only belongs to a tribal community but is also eminently qualified to be the President of our great nation”.

And then she adds, again mark the words: As such, the AIADMK “takes pride” in supporting the candidature of Mr Sangma.

Ms Jayalalithaa must have used these words after prolonged reflection and deliberation.

She must have known that she could not afford to fail in getting her proposal through, particularly when such a denouement would mean a whole party, which looks up to her as being cast almost a divine mould, suffering a reverse.

TERRIBLE BIND

Hence, her determined efforts to bring round all the political parties and combinations to his candidature by personally speaking to each of their leaders.

It is a masterly tour de force which must have put every party approached by her in a terrible bind. For one thing, her adroit move is beyond any imputation or reproach, and cannot be viewed as emanating from any self-serving motives.

Neither Mr Sangma nor his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has been seen cosying up to the AIADMK in the past. The NCP is too small a player on the political scene for a high profile party such as AIADMK to think of courting.

Second, the North Eastern States and their politics have no bearing on a State such as Tamil Nadu some 2000 miles away.

Therefore, the initiative taken by Ms Jayalalithaa could not have been for securing any political gains. Scheduled Tribes (STs) constitute only 1.5 per cent of the total population of Tamil Nadu, and none can attribute her support for Mr Sangma to a desire to pander to a vote bank. One can be sure that Ms Jayalalithaa would not have aggressively pitched for Mr Sangma's election as President, Ms Jayalalithaa without carefully appraising the factors weighing in his favour. His track record is impressive.

His tenure as the Chief Minister, Meghalaya, witnessed reasonably good governance and was free of any scams. He left his mark as probably one of the most successful Speakers of the Lok Sabha and is highly regarded as a distinguished parliamentarian.

The very fact that he has been elected to the Lok Sabha for eight terms from the same Tura constituency is testimony enough to the trust and standing he commands from his constituents as their representative. There is also the Christian factor and the sensitive situation in the North-East to be taken into account.

To cap it all, being only 68 years of age (the same as Rajiv Gandhi would have been had he been alive), he also stands out in a field crowded with geriatric personages approaching 80.

DOGHOUSE

There is yet another consideration that should make the rest of the political parties think twice about ignoring Ms Jayalalithaa's insistent sponsorship.

Although the proportion of tribals of India as a whole is only 8.2 per cent as per the 2001 Census, their percentages are quite sizeable in Mizoram (94.19), Nagaland (88.98), Meghalaya (86.42), Arunachal Pradesh (64.63), Manipur (38.96), Chhattisgarh (31.82), Tripura (31.13), Jharkhand (26.34), Orissa (22.19), Madhya Pradesh (20.26), Gujarat (14.79), Rajasthan (12.57) and Assam (12.4), with 140 out of 593 districts in the whole of India having tribals exceeding 20 per cent and 47 Lok Sabha seats reserved for STs.

Any section of the political class that rejects the candidature of Sangma, especially after the chief of a party such as AIADMK has proclaimed it to be a matter of pride, will be consigned by the STs to the doghouse for as long as one can foresee.

This is the first ever foray by a prominent leader of the South into national-level politics and if it is brushed aside, it may be seen through the prism of North-South divide.

“UPA-II, beware!”

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