Prez polls: BJP catches opposition napping

By K. Natwar Singh

The Bharatiya Janata Party played an ace by nominating ex-MP and ex-Governor as its presidential candidate. The BJP caught New Delhi napping. Almost all opposition political parties were taken by surprise when Ram Nath Kovind stole their thunder.

The opposition is in disarray. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a truly heavyweight politician, has opted for Kovind. His election is now guaranteed.

In our parliamentary system, it is impossible to oppose a Dalit candidate. Kovind’s RSS affiliations are well known. His CV is more than impressive, so is his height. Not that height matters. The outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee is far from being tall. He has done a splendid job. Two volumes of his autobiography have appeared. The third volume is due shortly. One hopes, he will now jettison restraint and make it more revealing than the earlier volumes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a speech at the UN has made yoga a world phenomenon. From New Delhi to New York, Beijing to Siachin, yoga is celebrated in June. The merits of yoga are no longer in dispute. I practised yoga for almost five decades. I now take short walks with irregularity. I know several people, who take no exercise, without harming the body or anything else.

The other day an eminent doctor-friend gave me a lesson on old age. He said that in the last 20 years, the number of people living up to 90 years has increased rapidly. He further said that by 2040 humans will on average live much longer and in reasonably good health. I asked: “Will this not prove Malthus right?” He did not agree. Advanced birth control preventives will be invented. Thus population will not explode.

Would I like to live till my 100th birthday? Yes, provided I keep good health and do not become senile.

For the past two days I have had the great pleasure to have the company of the incomparable Ruskin Bond. He is among the few Anglo-Indians living in India. His very recently published, Lone Fox Dancing: My Autobiography is delightfully witty. I laughed loudly when I came to passage like, this one: “Even if I was sufferings from diarrhoeas, I would get the enema. ‘This will clean you’. Granny would say, “Down with your, Knickers!. By modesty was outraged, I would have to submit to the indignity of having this nozzle shoved up my backside at least once a month. My cousin Edith was exempted from this treatment, either because she was a girl or because she was never constipated.” This autobiography succeeds admirably. Its proportions are exactly right. He is unsparing about himself without chronic self-pity. He is never Sertorius.

The Indian Foreign Service (IFS) has produced one President, KR Narayanan, two Vice-Presidents, KR Narayanan and Hamid Ansari, one speaker, Meira Kumar and one external affairs minister.

The opposition parties have nominated Meira as their pPresidential candidate. Her defeat is not in doubt. The numbers are against her. She was an able Speaker and would have made a fine Rashtrapati. Fate willed otherwise.

Who will be next Vice-President? It is a cushy job. Almost all Vice-Presidents have been man of distinction. Here, too, the B.J.P will get their man/woman elected. He or she will make it, but it will not be a walkover.

Democracy took a hard knock in the Punjab Assembly the other day. Legislators are required to conduct themselves with restraint and decorum. I wish they would.

Some years ago a life size portrait of Indira Gandhi was put up in the Central Hall of Parliament. The painter was the celebrated Nicholas Roerich. After the unveiling of the portrait, the President held a reception at Rashtrapati Bhawan for the painter. I was also invited. It just happened that Mr Roerich and I came face-to-face. After a few minutes, I asked him if he would like to sit down. He might be tired. He declined, adding, “Why don’t you sit. You are not looking too well.” I might add that he had married the beautiful Devika Rani, made famous for acting in Achut Kanya. Ashok Kumar was the hero. This was, if memory serves me right, in 1936 or 1937.