Opposition presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha on Sunday exhorted all disgruntled BJP lawmakers to treat Monday’s election as an opportunity to trigger “course correction” in their party, making a last-ditch attempt to make inroads into the ruling party’s votes with the numbers stacked against him.
Sinha asked the MPs and MLAs whether they wanted a President who would protect the Constitution or one who would protect the Prime Minister, trying to tap the anger within segments of the RSS-BJP over Narendra Modi-Amit Shah’s stranglehold on the party, with all other seniors rendered inconsequential.
Sources said Sinha was well aware of the strong displeasure within the RSS and the BJP over the Modi-Shah duopoly but understood that a revolt was not possible at this stage.
Still, he chose to work on the internal disquiet in his final appeal, made on the eve of the presidential election.
“Today, I would like to make a special appeal to BJP voters. I too once belonged to your party. However, I regret to say that the party that was once led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani is dead and gone. Under the present sole leader, it is an altogether different — and degraded — party,” he said.
“I am sure most of you know the difference and lament it as much as I do. This election is your last chance to introduce much-needed course correction in the BJP. By ensuring my election, you will have rendered a great service to the cause of saving the BJP and saving democracy in India.”
Sinha had approached several key BJP leaders during his campaign, and most of them had assured him — as the better candidate — their moral support but did not commit their votes.
Voting takes place on Monday in Parliament and the state Assemblies, with the counting scheduled in Delhi for Thursday.
The Opposition’s challenge has floundered with parties like the Biju Janata Dal, YSR Congress, JMM and the Shiv Sena pledging support for NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu, who is set to become the first tribal President of India.
While Murmu hasn’t addressed any news conference and her views on critical national issues remain unknown, Sinha has questioned the worth of the tribal symbolism and spoken eloquently on a range of subjects.
Contesting the importance of Murmu’s identity as an Adivasi, Sinha said: “It was never the intention or purpose of the great makers of our Constitution that the highest office of the republic should be used for the appeasement of any section of our society.
“Much less did they envision the office of President to be subservient to that of an all-powerful Prime Minister. I have repeatedly pledged that, if elected, I shall function without fear or favour, as the custodian of the Constitution and restrain, when the need arises, institutional misuse by an authoritarian and undemocratic executive.”
Sinha added: “My rival candidate has made no such pledge. Indeed, throughout the campaign, she has remained eloquently silent, thereby giving advance notice that, if elected, she will become a silent, pliant and rubber-stamp Rashtrapati.”
Outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind, whose Dalit identity was exploited by the BJP, too remained silent through his tenure on critical issues, including the atrocities on Dalits and the communal tension across the country.
Appealing to the electoral college to vote according to the “call of their conscience” instead of toeing the party line, Sinha said: “This is not about the identities of the two candidates in the fray but about the ideologies and ideals they represent.
“My ideology is the Constitution of India. My rival candidate represents those forces whose ideology and agenda, let’s make no mistake, is to change the Constitution. I stand for safeguarding India’s democratic system. My rival candidate is supported by those who are mounting daily attacks on democracy.”
Sinha added: “I stand for protecting secularism, a preambular pillar of our Constitution, which is best exemplified by India’s age-old Ganga-Jamuni heritage of unity in diversity. My rival candidate belongs to a party that has made no secret of its resolve to destroy this pillar and establish majoritarian supremacy. I stand for encouraging the politics of consensus and cooperation. My rival is backed by a party that practises the politics of confrontation and conflict.”
Sinha also flagged the Centre’s undermining of the states in violation of the federal spirit.
“I stand for the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and rights of every Indian citizen; my rival is chosen by those who are violating this principle with impunity,” he said.
“Finally, I stand for one nation, many parties, collective leadership. My rival, again, make no mistake, will be under the control of those whose aim is to convert democratic India into an imitator of communist China — one nation, one party, one supreme leader. Must this not be stopped? Yes, it must be. Only you can stop it.”
