IndiaSnapshot.com                                                      Home      Contact     Link     Suggestions

'Pratibha Patil sworn in as the First Woman President of India'

It is official. Pratibha Patil is the President of India.

Yes, there were last minute allegations against her. Yes there were unnecessary faux pas in the run up to the Presidential election. And, yes, the opponent, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was seen as a man who could garner support cutting across party lines.

But there never was any doubt that Patil will emerge triumphant. She had all the things going for her from the time she was nominated.

Loyalty to the Gandhi family. Tick. Acceptable to the Left. Tick. India's first woman President. Tick. Numbers by her side. Tick.

And thus on the evening of July 21, India met its 13th President.

President APJ Abdul Kalam is spending his last night in Rashtrapati Bhawan. He will be moving out on Wednesday afternoon when new President Pratibha Patil escorts him to a car to head for an army guest house that will be his temporary abode for few hours before flying to Chennai to return as a teacher in the Anna University.

Pratibha Patil will be ushered into the Rashtrapati Bhawan around noon on Wednesday from a side-gate without much ceremony and waiting to receive and greet her in the library of the Rashtrapati Bhawan annexe will be Dr Kalam.

The two will then emerge from the building to take the salute of the President's bodyguard led by its commandant Colonel Mehmood. He will actually address Dr Kalam who was still the President for him requesting him to inspect the bodyguard: 'Rashtrapati, aapke angrakshak aapke nirakshan ke liye tayyar hain.'

Dr Kalam may or may not notice that he used to be formally addressed as 'Shriman' in such ceremonies in the past but that was the way the military has sorted out the problem of how to address his successor joining him on the inspection, after much debate on whether to address her as 'Shrimati' or stick to 'Shriman' or use 'Madam.'

On 14th June, United Progressive Alliance (UPA), the ruling alliance of political parties in India headed by Congress (I), and the Indian left nominated her as their candidate for the Presidential Election to be held on 19 July 2007. She emerged as a compromise candidate after the Left parties would not agree to the nomination of present Home Minister Shivraj Patil. At that point, Sonia Gandhi proposed Pratibha Patil's name. Her loyalty to Nehru-Gandhi family was widely perceived to be a major factor in her nomination as UPA-Left Presidential candidate.

 

Copyright © 2006 IndiaSnapshot.com . All Rights Reserved.  Website designed and created by Bhavna Lulla.