Ramnath Kovind as President: Nominated to Divide the Opposition?

The NDA government's decision to field Bihar Governor Ramnath Kovind as its presidential candidate has seemingly caught the opposition parties by surprise. Known previously for his controversial anti Muslim and Christian  remarks, Kovind's nomination appears to be a move by the ruling alliance to divide the opposition on deciding Mr Pranab Mukherjees's successor. Upon the nomination of Kovind, the opposition were left perplexed on whether to support the Dalit candidate or oppose his nomination as the country's head. Much of the opposition including Congress and JD(U) offered a guarded response in an apparent attempt to avoid anti-Dalit stance.

The final decision on Kovind's nomination, however, will be taken as opposition parties are expected to meet on Thursday to discuss the matter.

An RSS man 71-year-old Kovind was declared as the NDA candidate for President by BJP president Amit Shah on Monday. His name for the presidential candidature was welcomed by all NDA constituents except Shiv Sena, who had proposed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat among two names including leading agriculturist MS Swaminathan.

The Supreme Court lawyer, serving as Bihar Governor since August 2015, Kovind rose in the party ranks being one of the first few Dalits to join the Hindu right-wing party. If elected, Kovind will be the second Dalit President of India after KR Narayanan.

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Dalit leader Mayawati has already expressed her content on the matter and said she would not oppose the move unless the opposition fields another Dalit leader. The BSP leader added that her party's stand cannot be negative towards Kovind since he is a Dalit despite his association with the RSS and the BJP from the beginning.

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan while extending his full support to Kovind, termed it a “political masterstroke” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In Bihar Nitish Kumar has expressed happiness over the nomination however remained guarded about JD(U)s support to the nominee. This is likely to emerge as another point of disagreement between Kumar and Lalu Parasad Yadav.

After his nomination Kovind also drew flak from many quarter especially on social media networks for his 2010 remark against including Muslims and Christians in the Scheduled Caste category. The then BJP spokesperson has opposed the Ranganath Misra commission report that recommended a 15% quota in govt jobs for socially and economically backward sections among religious and linguistic minorities in the country.

The nomination of Kovind is also being observed as an attempt to address the Dalit “vote bank” in the backdrop of 2019 Lok Sabha Polls. Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray said he is not willing to support Kovind if making a Dalit the President is being done with the purpose of “gaining a vote bank”.

The move to nominate a Dalit for the topmost job is also being viewed as another popular attempt to bring Dalits into the Hindutva fold and the division among the opposition parties amid denial is likely to work to the benefit of the right-wing party that has now countered the oppositions argument of being a “party of upper-castes”.

Amid this, speculations are rife that the opposition is likely to nominate former LS speaker Meira Kumar and BR Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar as their presidential candidate.

For the BJP it is still a long way to go before it can actually bring up a mass leader from among the Dalits and nominate him/her for an important office. Even as it is too early for the BJP to celebrate its victory over the opposition on the issue of nomination, what remains to be seen is what decision will the opposition take on Thursday. Will they be able to nominate a Dalit leader more popular than Kovind?

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