President-elect Ram Nath Kovind’s journey from a nondescript village in eastern Uttar Pradesh to the Rashtrapati Bhavan is reflective of the triumph of the proletarian against the entitled, as it is of the stunning symbolism of him being a Dalit from the Hindi heartland.
That this is the first time a devoted activist of the RSS has come to occupy the country’s highest office is almost a postscript in the host of other political signals in Kovind’s election.
The critical political message underlying his election is the BJP’s aggressive adoption of Mandal politics, ensuring a Dalit in the President’s office after having anointed an OBC as Prime Minister.
The caste calculus involved in the election of a Kori, who constitute the third-largest Dalit group after Jatavs and Pasis in politically critical Uttar Pradesh, is certain to embellish the BJP’s appeal as a freshly ‘Mandalised’ party. It validates its pitch for Dalit votes at a time when its chief competitor, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), is in complete disarray after successive electoral defeats.
The other significant signal is the ruling dispensation’s attempt to espouse the cause of the downtrodden in a year dedicated to BJP ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay and his Antyodaya (upliftment of the last in the line) philosophy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, at the time of the announcement of Kovind’s candidature, summed up the rationale for the 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.”. The Prime Minister hailed Kovind’s achievements as a lawyer but underlined the fact that he had been a “strong voice for the poor, downtrodden and marginalised”.
Indeed, India’s first citizen has a CV that mirrors the criteria mentioned by the PM.
Kovind was born in Paraunkh village in Derapur tehsil of Kanpur Rural, to amateur Ayurvedic practitioner Maiku Lal, who ran a small kirana shop besides farming.
The youngest son among seven siblings, Kovind finished his primary schooling in the only government school near his village. His brother Pyarelal Jhinjak still runs a small ration shop in the village.
A diligent student, Kovind would walk six kilometres to the school where even the strictest of teachers would fail to find fault with his performance.
After finishing middle school from Khanpur in Sandalpur block, Kovind proceeded to read law at DAV College Kanpur. The young lawyer then 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 began 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.
Political inningsThe BJP fielded him from Ghatampur in UP for the 1990 Lok Sabha elections, and, in 2007, from Bhognipur for the Assembly elections. He lost on both occasions.
Meanwhile, between 1994 and 2006, Kovind was elected to the Rajya Sabha from UP and served in several parliamentary committees. He was also BJP national spokesperson before the party appointed him Bihar Governor. He has, in his entire political career, flown under the radar, remained non-controversial and rooted in his humble origins.
The man who gave backHe owns no property and has donated even his ancestral home in Paraunkh, even renovating it from his MP Local Area Development fund, as a community centre for the people he grew up with.
The village erupted in spontaneous joy on Thursday, with people distributing sweets and singing songs to celebrate Kovind’s election to the highest office. They narrated stories of his easy accessibility and readiness to help whoever needed him, as an MP and later as Governor.
Kovind’s election is as much a triumph of the man who made his own luck against extreme odds, as the politics of mobilisation of the socially backward. It makes him a welcome elevation as the first citizen of India.