news details |
|
|
| Azad greets new President | | Her Excellency Pratibha: India 's First Citizen | |
Jammu, July 21: Putting to an end one of the bitterest campaigns, Indian democracy has ever witnessed, the 72 years old lawyer turned diminutive politician Pratibha Patil, has been declared India`s first woman President defeating the octogenarian NDA backed Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
Reacting to the news of country getting first women President, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad felicitatedPratibha Patil on her election as President of Republic of India, saying the fact that she was the first woman President of the country made her election more significant.
Azad said the victory of Mrs. Patil was in fact the victory of the secular, progressive and forward-looking forces in India and a shining example of women empowerment in the country. He said the President-elect being the first woman to reach the top constitutional position was a great honour for India even as it was a path breaking political development. He said in electing her, the law makers of the country have taken a lead over US where a woman President is still a debating issue.
Azad hoped that the new President would lead the country to newer heights of glory and achievement. Her ability and acumen, he said, would be a guiding force for everybody in the country.
The counting of votes started early this morning in New Delhi and the result -- a foregone conclusion after the a divided opposition went to the polls -- was declared later in the day.
Sealed ballot boxes from across the country -- where legislators voted in state capitals -- were brought to the Parliament House for counting.
The voting followed a presidential campaign described by analysts as the most vitriolic in India`s six decades of independence.
Sonia Gandhi plucked Patil from political obscurity, saying her election would boost the cause of gender equality and be a "historic moment."
But Patil, a native of western Maharashtra state, was buffeted by accusations that she protected her brother in a murder probe and shielded her husband in a suicide scandal.
There were also claims of nepotism and involvement in a slew of financial scams. Patil, a demure figure who dresses conservatively in a sari pulled over her hair, has denied any wrongdoing.
She has also been mocked for revealing that a dead spiritual guru gave her a "divine premonition of greater responsibility."
Patil has a tough act to follow in the form of India`s popular, outgoing President Abdul Kalam. Congress rebuffed his bid for a second five-year term because, analysts say, it wanted a party loyalist.
The silver-haired, shaggy-locked missile scientist, who became a national hero after overseeing successful tests in 1998 that turned India into a nuclear power, was dubbed the "People`s President".
Kalam, the son of an illiterate Muslim boatman, is known for his simple lifestyle despite occupying an opulent 340-room sandstone palace that housed the viceroy when Britain ruled the subcontinent.
Kalam said this week he will leave the palace where he has lived for the past five years with just "two small suitcases" after his term expires July 24.
A vegetarian teetotaller, Kalam has said he wishes to return to teaching at a university in Tamil Nadu after leaving the post.
He advised his countrymen, in a thinly veiled speech this week, not to "take gifts that come with a purpose and build families with character and a good value system."
Corruption is rife in Indian politics and bureaucracy.
Analysts have wondered whether Patil can resist the pressures of the ruling coalition and act independently.
Under the constitution, the Prime Minister holds the executive reins but the president plays a role in forming governments at state and federal levels, making the post hotly contested.
"The last few Presidents have set a very high standard of non-partisan conduct," said analyst Mahesh Rangarajan. "We will have to wait and watch."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
