NO to Prathibha Patil as President of India!

Today is the last day for filing nominations for the Presidential elections. It seems almost certain that the UPA-Left nominee, Prathiba Patil is going to be India's next and first woman President. I, as a citizen would rather not have her as my President. Why? Well, it's obvious I guess. But read on.

The Congress' argument that they have chosen Mrs. Patil as the candidate as a mark of respect to Indian women sounds hollow and holds no water. She was obviously their last minute compromise choice. The Left rejected all the men, so they put up a woman. They could reject her only at the cost of looking anti-women. A master stroke by the UPA, wouldn't you say?

Even then, I was glad that their last minute choice was a woman. It's time we had a woman President. The symbolism associated with the post of the President is immense, the First Person of India being a woman! The commander in chief of the armed forces, a woman. That will be a great fillip to all women here.

But would it help empower the women in our country? Well, not really, but it would definitely help a little. I would have preferred President Kalam to continue, but first woman President wouldn't have been bad either.

Yet, knowing what we do now about her now, I do not want her to be the President. Right from the time she has been nominated she has stepped from one controversy to another. The purdah controversy, the bank scam, loan defaulting and even murder! Sure, most of them do not involve her directly, but yet some pertinent questions have been raised to which there have been no answer except one. That she is a woman and anyone questioning her credentials is anti women and a male chauvinist. I'm sure we, the citizens, deserve better answers.

Man or woman, I do not want a President whose past is riddled with scams and scandals. I do not want a President whose credibility is questionable. Any decision she takes will always be questioned. Her motives always in doubt.

Can we truly trust her to be apolitical and take decisions which are in keeping with the interest of the nation and the constitution and not in the interest of the Congress party? I don't!!! But then according to some in the Congress party (Priyaranjan Dasmunshi) we the bloggers and the SMS voters really don't matter.

There are lots of blogs opposing Prathiba Patil as the President. Even Indian Express has many articles on her and why her becoming the President does not bode well for us as a Country. Arun Shourie had written a series of articles on all the scandals surrounding her. I couldn't find it online, but Pegasus has a couple of these here. Here are a few more must read articles from the Express. This one, where some pertinent questions have been raised and this one by Shekhar Gupta.