Keeping the faith

As who should be the next President parleys heat up and current President Pratibha Patil readies to end her term in July this year the hot button topic is religion A number of candidates names are being bandied The larger picture shows shows that there is a change in the political landscape In the years past religion of the President did not give rise to so much animated debate Now Mumbairsquos Christian Catholic Secular Forum CSF an activist community organization with its headquarters in Vakola Santacruz E has jumped on to the bandwagon urging the community to push for a Christian President or VicePresident In an email message sent by CSFrsquos Joseph Dias to the community CSF says ldquoIndian Christians are about to lose yet another opportunity to have a Christian as if not President at least the next VicePresident of the country This will not happen if the Church bishops clergy and community take it upon themselves to at least sign a petitionrdquo Scientific vision Former President APJ Abdul Kalam interacts with students at a school in Mumbai Communal The Archbishop of Bombay Cardinal Oswald Gracias though did not answer calls for comment on the issue Dias denies that pushing for a Christian president means communalisng the issue ldquoEverybody is lobbying for something or the otherrdquo said Dias adding ldquoWhen people spoke about Indiarsquos first Dalit President that did not mean they were communalising the postrdquo In fact when current President Pratibha Patil too became the President there was a buzz about her becoming Indiarsquos first woman president but that does not mean the issue became genderspecificrdquo Pros and thorns President Pratibha Patil admires a rose at Mughal Gardenu00a0 Dias has made an online petition for signatures supporting the campaign for a Christian president The introduction to the petition urging people to sign says If we do not have at least a vicepresident this time we will not have it in the future given the political signs of time This is therefore a very special request to sign the below petition by clicking on the link below httpwwwchangeorgpetitionsmrssoniagandhileadersoftheoppositionandnationalstatepartiesrequesttonominateachristianaspresidentorvicepresidentofindia Dias says ldquoWe have had nearly 500 signatures in two days which is a good number Remember though that as a microminority figures are not so important to us It is the sentiment behind the signing that is valuable We are going to forward the signed petition and memorandum to Sonia Gandhi and leaders of the oppositionrdquo Dias added that it is difficult to believe that there has been no suitable Christian candidate for 70 years ldquoWe think it is important the community gets a representation in constitutional posts it is to foster a feeling of oneness and to make the community feel a part of the national fabricrdquou00a0The CSF honcho also uses terms like the community feels ldquoisolated and alienated and there is a feeling of disenchantmentrdquo when talking about the community but cannot spell out what exactly he means by that Asked if this attitude spawns a culture of victimization Dias denied that it did and said he had gleaned this in everyday interaction with the people Dias also denied being a spokesperson for the community saying ldquoI am involved in daily work on various issuesrdquo CSF says these are points to ponder 1 For almost 70 years India has not had Christians represented 2 There are many Christians who are equally or better qualified but ignored 3 The service of the community has not been recognized with constitutional positions 4 Christians feel neglected and taken for granted and hence request at least the VPrsquos post How the President of India is elected The President of India is chosen by an electoral college which constitutes the elected members of the Lok Sabha the Rajya Sabha and the legislative assemblies of all states including Delhi and the Union territory of Puducherry The election is held by secret ballot Nominations The nomination of a candidate for election to the office of the President must be subscribed by at least 50 electors as proposers and 50 electors as seconders Value of votes The Constitution uses a formula to determine the value of a vote When would the vote be held The formal electoral process to elect India39s next President will commence on June 16 with the issue of the notification The tentative date proposed for the President39s election is July 19 so as to complete the entire process including the counting of votes by July 21 four days ahead before incumbent Pratibha Patil completes her term as India39s President The tentative calendar drawn up by the Election Commission contemplates that it will issue the notification for the election on June 16 while the last date for filing nominations will be on Saturday June 30 A total of 4896 elected members of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies will vote in the 13th presidential poll on July 19 u00a0