For the BJP, Ram Nath Kovind serves the twin purposes of sending a strong signal to dalits and wrecking opposition unity.
For the first time in history, a BJP leader is set to move into Rashtrapati Bhavan. On June 19, the party’s highest decision-making body, the parliamentary board, picked Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as its candidate for the presidential election.
A mild-mannered, modest lawyer-turned politician, Kovind, 71, has been a dalit face of the BJP. Getting the numbers to elect Kovind as India’s 14th president will not be a problem, as several parties which are not part of the BJPled National Democratic Alliance have extended their support. In 2002, the BJP government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee nominated missile man A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for the post, as it did not have the requisite numbers to get a party member elected.
By nominating Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah have sent a strong signal to the marginalised, who have been gravitating to the party in recent years. The decision has also hit the tenuous unity cobbled up by opposition parties. The non-NDA parties were pushing for an ideological contest in the presidential elections, as a way to take on the Modi government. But, opposing a dalit candidate will not be easy, as evident from initial statements by Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar and BSP leader Mayawati, both of whom have indicated that they are not opposed to Kovind.
After hindutva firebrand Yogi Adityanath’s appointment as Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Kovind’s nomination aims at stepping up the integration of dalits into the Hindu homogeneous mainstream. The RSS has put its energy and focus on accomplishing the task through its social inclusion programmes like Samajik Samrasta. There are those who also find significance in Kovind’s first name being Ram Nath, which means Lord Ram. After Kovind’s election, the Modi government would be credited with putting Ram on top, said a BJP leader.
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