Aditya Sinha: Today it's Vala, tomorrow Kovind?

BS Yeddyurappa submits his resignation as Karnataka chief minister to Governor Vajubhai Vala in Bengaluru on Saturday. Pic/PTI

At a press conference moments after BS Yeddyurappa quit as Karnataka chief minister for the third occasion in his life, this time after just two impotent days, Congress president Rahul Gandhi was asked if he would demand Governor Vajubhai Vala's resignation. Just the day before, Rahul had tweeted that Vala's decision to invite Yeddyurappa to form a government, despite being short of a majority and not having any other party's support, was "unconstitutional". Yet, with the press he was philosophical: "What's the point?" Rahul said. "Even if Governor Vala is made to go, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi would put another puppet in his place, who will take exactly the same decisions."

Rahul repeatedly stressed the point that the RSS, through Modi, is out to destroy all institutions in India because it respects no institution other than the RSS. Modi did not behave like a democrat, he said, but like a "dictator". (Also, the Congress president referred to his BJP counterpart as "murder accused Amit Shah".)

Some Indians don't mind Modi being a dictator. They think democracy in India is too slow and needs to be speeded up. Not only is this sentiment justified by pseudo-Darwinism - so what if the poor get left behind? - it doesn't seem to bother them that subverting Constitutional niceties may backfire on them one day, when the Great Leader is replaced by someone else, perhaps another regional leader in a hurry. For now it's okay if their Governors try one thing in Manipur and Goa, and then try the opposite in Karnataka.

Rahul did not mention, however, the elephant in the room: the occupant of the highest constitutional office in the land. For much of the republic's life we have had some pretty ordinary occupants in Rashtrapati Bhawan, and one need not go far back in history to find some awful examples. Pratibha Patil was nominated by the UPA to be India's first woman president, but she was far from a leading advocate of gender-equality or even equal-pay issues during her career; her elevation was simply an exercise in tokenism - much in the way that Ram Nath Kovind's is. (Another pedestrian candidate, to my mind, was fixer and murky backroom boy Pranab Mukherjee, who in 2012 end-gamed then Congress President Sonia Gandhi into nominating him.)

President Kovind isn't even the first dalit in Rashtrapati Bhawan. The first was KR Narayanan, who unlike President Kovind, had a distinguished career as a diplomat and an academician before he became vice-president (and in 1997, president). President Kovind's achievements have been modest in the field of education; and though he was personal assistant to Prime Minister Morarji Desai, he has been a Hindutva ideologue for over a quarter of a century. The RSS considers him its man.

President Kovind isn't anywhere near the stratosphere of popularity achieved by the other NDA nominee for president, the late APJ Abdul Kalam, who succeeded Narayanan in 2002. On the contrary, President Kovind was earlier this month left looking diminished thanks to former information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani (repeatedly the proverbial bull in Modi's china shop) who mismanaged his presentation of the National Film Awards, provoking many artistes to boycott the function. (The photos were catastrophic, showing rows of empty seats at the function.)

President KR Narayanan distinguished himself in office with a couple of correct Constitutional decisions that shocked the political establishment, because he acted impartially rather than be the government's rubber stamp. In October 1997, he returned the recommendation by then Prime Minister IK Gujral's to put UP under President's Rule. He is the only president to have refused to impose central rule (he did it again the next year), setting an important precedent for federalism.

Given the recent partisanship of members of the Election Commission and of the Supreme Court, and with Governor Vala's naked and shameless partiality - he disregarded recommendations by various Centre-State Commissions set up since Independence on the Governor's role in inviting a party for government formation - you need not be a rocket scientist to predict President Kovind's behaviour if the 2019 election produces a hung parliament.

Imagine a scenario where the BJP wins about 180 seats and the Congress wins about 185, or the other way around. Forget for a moment how the pre-poll and post-poll alliances shape up. Then ask yourself the question: who will President Kovind invite first to form the government? This must be weighing on the minds of Rahul Gandhi and his team. It is obvious to most of us why Modi appoints whoever he appoints to high Constitutional office - it is to do his bidding. President Kovind's critical moment in history will come when he will have to make a choice - to be another KR Narayanan, or to be another Vajubhai Vala.

Aditya Sinha's latest book, The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI, and the Illusion of Peace (HarperCollins India), written with former spychiefs AS Dulat and Asad Durrani, is out this week. He tweets @autumnshade Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com

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