WHO SHOULD BE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT?

Have you ever given it a thought as to who should be the next President, after Pronob da leaves office at the end of this term or the next term? I have and here are my criteria.

1. He should not be from politics. 

2. He / She should be inspirational - a role model like Kalam. 
3. He / she should be of impeccable integrity 

4. He / she should have excelled in his/her chosen field.
5. As India is a young country he should not be very old
6. He should have an international presence and recognition... not like Pratibha Patil. 

7. His image should convey the image of the new aspirational India.
8. He / she should be linguistically blessed with proficiency in English and Hindi 

9. He / she should have excellent man management skills and an open mind without prejudices.
10. He / she should not be afraid to swim against the tide if that is good for the nation.

Now that I have given you the 10 commandments give me your choice. I have narrowed down my choice to three, but I will tell you only after hearing your choices.

Don't bother about who will be politically correct. Tell me who is your choice? By rattling down my criteria of an ideal President I am not fixated on one name. What I have done is encouraged you to make your choice of the first citizen of this country who will encourage one and all and be an embodiment of an ideal Indian. He should be a person who will make us all proud of being an Indian.

So, let us hear from you. Share this with other discussion groups so that we start discussing in a mega scale. Remember, if you choose to remain silent a not so deserving President may be thrust upon us........ it has been done in the past. So speak up and make your voices heard. This is democracy of 21st. century and your e-participation matters.

This is a blog which I posted in 8 discussion groups and waited for a response for the next 72 hours. I managed to collect just over 200 responses.  I told you that I have my three choices and I will tell you after I hear your responses, so these were my three choices:

1. Ratan Tata – He fits almost hand in gloves with all my ten commandments. An honest businessman whose heart bleeds for the country, he showed his mettle after 26/11 when he not only assisted in the rehabilitation of all his own employees in the Taj, but also showed exemplary social responsibility towards all those who were affected including people working at other unfortunate sites and the policemen, the firemen and the general public. Radia tapes failed to dent his reputation of an upright and emotional patriot, with his heart in the right place and when I analyze all your responses he remains the most popular choice.

2. Rahul Dravid – I sincerely believed I will be the only person rooting for a President as young as him, but you surprised me. This only goes to prove that goodness of his heart shines through for all to see. A thorough gentleman, an achiever extraordinaire, one who is ready to do anything for the team, and yet raise his voice against any wrong without any fear, Rahul is an outstanding orator and a man of vision. His Bradman Oration a couple of years ago and his Pataudi Oration a couple of days back has shown how fearlessly he can swim against the tide of deceit and fraud all alone, without bothering if others will support him.

3. Kailash Satyarthi – He was my third choice, but I must admit he is not very high in your list. I think he is a brave crusader who was discovered by the world much earlier than he was discovered by us, and we can undo the wrong and give a very big boost to his crusade against child labour by making him our President. After all how many countries have chosen a Nobel laureate to be their President!

While you all were with me on Ratan Tata and Rahul Dravid, the third person of your choice was N.R. Narayana Moorthy. I think he will make an excellent President for he satisfies all our ten commandments and is much more. I respect your choice. The fourth person in your list was the Metro Man E. Shridharan. With Konkan Railway and Delhi Metro among his conquests, this wizard of engineering and management surely stands out truly Presidential! Kailash Satyarthi was your fifth choice.

A lot of you have quite justifiably been skeptical and opined that politics and not talent will be the criteria for selection and suggested mostly Lal Krishna Advani and Mohan Bhagwat’s name. This may well be true but by your responses it is clear that they are not your choices. So at least this microcosm of literati is thinking in the right direction.