The whole affair that culminated yesterday with the unanimous choice of a woman to occupy the office of the President of India, was indeed a sordid one. Surprisingly, after all the drama, boycotts, frantic smear campaigs and not to mention, the disparaging Dr.Kalam-fiasco, the front page of The Hindu just carried a small, I feel, downplayed caption, "Pratibha is President". I only wished there had been some nasty and gaudy grafitti instead.
All along, the tactics employed by both the contending camps were disreputable. Frenzied by the oppurtunities that would come with a win, the two alliances resorted to brutal savaging on the part of both, taking turns playing the good fellas and in turn, leaving them both struggling with a bundle of contrived charges and outrageous aspersions. For the ruling UPA, it was the case of the non-payment of a government loan by their candidate and a string of other corruption charges against her while Mr.Bhairon Singh was asked to explain his service-related inclinations to the erstwhile British government. Well, quite a case of political stich-up, atleat that's what the candidates were left saying in defense.
As an interesting exercise, one could conduct a "career-scan", like the one that our President-elects were harassed with, for other members of the political fraternity, one whose results could lead to many a repercussion.
