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Does Yashwant Sinha's "Rashtra Dharma" not require him to bow out for Droupadi Murmu?

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Shekhar Iyer
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Yashwant Sinha has been unanimously chosen as the joint opposition candidate for upcoming presidential elections

Accompanied by the top guns of the opposition, former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha may have filed his nomination papers as their joint Presidential candidate on June 27 in response to what he calls his inner calling for doing his "rashtra dharma" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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But what does he hope to gain by standing against an unassuming Droupadi Murmu, the NDA candidate who is set to be India's first tribal President.

Compared to Sinha's stint in politics in pursuit of position of eminence, Murmu rose from a hugely disadvantaged background to carve out a special place among several lakhs of tribals who look upto her as an icon of empowerment.

Everyone knows that Sinha's battle this time is about his disenchantment with Modi and the BJP and even less to do with the crisis faced by the opposition in finding a suitable candidate for the top post.

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It may surprise many that, before he left the BJP's company, Sinha defended Modi many times before and even looked forward to his rise as the prime minister. But once Modi and the BJP refused to entertain his demand to be made chief minister of Jharkhand and preferred either Arjun Munda or Raghubar Das at different times, Sinha's disenchantment knew no bounds. So did his anger and, consequent hopping from one party to another.

Certainly, Sinha is not the first choice of the opposition. We know that his name cropped up after NCP leader Sharad Pawar, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and Gandhiji's grandson Gopal Krishna Gandhi turned down requests from other opposition leaders in this regard.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee even invited rebuke from other opposition leaders for her unilateral move in this regard. Even Pawar was not happy that his name was bandied about despite his clear "no'' to Banerjee, right from the beginning.

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Not less ambitious than Banerjee, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao even resented her attempts to seize the initiative, which was to show that she was the first among the equals in the opposition rank and had an edge being the alternative face to Modi before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Even when Sinha was the last one left to be considered, the Left insisted on his resignation as Trinamool Congress vice president before they could declare support to his candidature. As he resigned from Banerjee's party, it also became clear that the opposition was not only bereft of candidates but also lacked a strategy.

A few hours after Sinha's name was announced as the joint Opposition candidate, BJP chief J P Nadda came out with the name of Murmu.

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As expected, her name evoked strong support from not only the allies of the NDA (who were previously consulted) but also from Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who heads the Biju Janata Dal, which is a large block of votes in the electoral college that elects the President. The opposition was left wondering whether they had made a mistake in rushing with the name of Sinha. There can be no symbolic fight when the attempt is to elect someone from hitherto unrepresented sections to the office of the head of state.

Since then, the support for Murmu has only grown among different sections. Non-BJP parties like the Jhakhand Mukti Morcha have gone into huddle after internal debate as to why they should prefer Sinha over Murmu. They cannot oppose her for obvious reasons.

Surely, Modi's intention was to send out a message through the candidature of Murmu. It appeared to have served its purpose just as the Congress earned brownie points in nominating India's first dalit President K R Narayanan.

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Narayanan had won the 11th presidential elections in 1997 with 956,290 votes won over his nearest rival T N Seshan who got only 50,631 votes in the electoral college.

Seshan, a former chief election commissioner, contested as an independent candidate. Major political parties did not endorse Seshan's candidature as they did not want to be seen as opposing the election of the first Dalit President.

Similarly, in the case of Murmu, her victory is presumed because of the numerical advantage already enjoyed by the NDA, which has 48 per cent votes. Also, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has immediately supported Murmu though he has had problems with the BJP in Bihar as an alliance partner.

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Of course, Sinha has claimed he would get the support of certain "invisible forces" between now and the polling date.

He has also asserted that there is no question of withdrawing from the contest.

"This election is more than merely the election of the president of India. This election is a step towards resisting the authoritarian policies of the government. This election is a message to the people of India that there should be resistance to these policies," he has said in an interview.

Filled with self-importance, Sinha has also described the July 18 election as "much more than a personal contest."

He has also trashed Murmu's candidature, saying that “from my long experience of public life, I can say the elevation of one individual does not elevate the whole community. The community's elevation depends on the policies followed by the government.”

He has held that the Rashtrapati Bhavan needs more than a "rubber stamp" occupant, implying that Murmu may be Modi's puppet.

But, without raising questions about Sinha's credentials as a Presidential candidate, one may very well ask what purpose will be served by his contesting the election, excepting that his spite for the Prime Minister (largely on account of personal reasons) overcame his ambition. Can that ever be a matter of national importance?

Should the political parties avoid choosing India's first tribal president by consensus-- just because their opposition to Modi and the BJP surpasses all other concerns?

In any case, Sinha's chances of success are very dim. So, will it not be a grand gesture if Sinha chooses to bow out in favour of Murmu?

Sinha and other opposition parties will always have other fora and electoral opportunities to continue their fierce opposition to Modi and the BJP. They don't have to think that they have compromised by supporting Murmu or aiding her election as the first tribal and second woman President. They may even earn kudos for playing an equally key role in India's historic moment.

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