BJP’s presidential nominee: How he made the cut

Low-profile and non-controversial, Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind’s projection as the BJP’s nominee for the post of the President of India serves many purposes for the ruling party.

The caste calculus in the candidature of a Kori, who form the third-largest Dalit group after Jatavs and Pasis in politically critical Uttar Pradesh, is certain to unsettle and divide the Opposition. It simultaneously validates the BJP’s pitch for Dalit votes, at a time when Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is in complete disarray after successive electoral defeats.

It will not be easy for Mayawati to oppose Kovind’s candidature when, besides Jatavs — a caste to which she herself belongs — are shifting to the BJP.

Secondly, having served in a Constitutional post and not been involved in any controversy makes him more palatable to a number of Opposition parties than a straightforward ideologue from the RSS ranks.

Typically ‘unexceptional’ The choice is also in line with the penchant Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah have for projecting proletarians for high offices. With the exception of Yogi Adityanath, the only political heavyweight who stunned many by his appointment as UP Chief Minister earlier this year, ‘unexceptional’ is the norm if Modi and Shah’s choices are any indication.

By choosing a non-descript, RSS loyalist Manohar Lal Khattar to head the Haryana government, the relatively unknown Devendra Fadnavis to lead the dispensation in Maharashtra, Raghubar Das to be Jharkhand CM, the Modi-Shah duo has always favouring sons-of-soil over entitled favourites for coveted jobs.

Caste matters But, as in the appointment of Khattar, caste is a critical component of this process of selection. Khattar represented the consolidation of non-Jat castes in favour of the BJP in Haryana, a State dominated by Jats who have mostly occupied all important offices since its formation.

Kovind, a Dalit from Kanpur Dehat (Rural), who rose to the office of the Bihar Governor, symbolises the BJP’s endeavour to espouse the cause of the downtrodden in a year dedicated to the party’s ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay and his Antyodaya (upliftment of the last in the line) philosophy.

The PM summed up the rationale for his choice in a series of tweets.

“Shri Ram Nath Kovind, a farmer’s son, comes from a humble background. He devoted his life to public service and worked for poor and marginalised,” Modi tweeted after Shah made the announcement of Kovind’s candidature.

The PM hailed Kovind’s achievements as a lawyer but underlined the fact that he has been a “strong voice for the poor, downtrodden and marginalised”.

Indeed, Kovind’s CV corroboratesthe PM’s espousals. He hails from Paraunkh village in Derapur Tehsil, Kanpur Rural, UP. This, in itself, is a qualification – a Dalit from the politically critical Hindi heartland State of UP sends a message which can only be symbolically outdone if the Opposition were to field a metaphor for Dalit empowerment, such as BSP supremo Mayawati.

In the absence of any prospect for such a canny contest by a dispirited Opposition, Kovind’s candidature is picture perfect.

Political career The 72-year-old Bihar Governor was one of three brothers in a Dalit family who did his primary and middle school from the nondescript Khanpur in Sandalpur block, proceeding to read law at DAV College Kanpur. The young lawyer travelled to Delhi to pursue a career in Civil Services, clearing the exam in the third attempt but electing to give up the line as he was selected for the allied services.

He then started a career in law and after the formation of the Janata Party government, worked as a junior counsellor for the Centre in the Supreme Court. The BJP fielded him from Ghatampur in UP for the 1990 Lok Sabha elections and in 2007, from Bhognipur for the Assembly elections. He lost both times.

Meanwhile, during 1994-2006, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from UP and served in several parliamentary committees.

Kovind was national BJP spokesperson before the party appointed him Bihar Governor. He has, in his entire political career, flown under the radar and remained non-controversial. It is not a candidate the Opposition can find much fault with.