www.sundaytimes.lk
ISSN: 1391 - 0531
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Vol. 42 - No 08
International  

India set for first female president: Kalam to take up teaching job

NEW DELHI, Saturday (AFP) - India got its first female president today as lawmakers elected Pratibha Patil in what was billed as a historic step forward for women. The 72-year-old lawyer cruised to a landslide win over incumbent 84-year-old Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat for the largely ceremonial post of head of state of the world's largest democracy.

Kalam Pratibha

“I am grateful to the voters... I am grateful to the people of India, the men and women of India,” Patil said outside her New Delhi residence, as supporters danced in the streets and burst firecrackers in celebration. “This is the victory of the principles which our Indian people uphold,” she told reporters.

Sonia Gandhi, president of the ruling Congress party, smiled warmly on hearing that the candidate she plucked from relative political obscurity had been elected by an electoral college of federal and state lawmakers.“In the 60th year of our independence, for the first time, we have a woman president and I want to thank our alliance partners and all those who voted for her,” said Gandhi.

She had said Patil's election would be a historic moment and boost the cause of women in a country where many face sexual discrimination. Patil, a native of western Maharashtra state, defeated Shekhawat by a large margin, securing 66 per cent of the votes cast, said election returning officer P.D.T. Achary. A stream of well-wishers thronged Patil's residence in the national capital and people hugged each other in celebration and distributed sweets in the streets in her home town of Jalgaon.

She replaces Abdul Kalam, the silver-haired, shaggy-locked missile scientist, who became a national hero after overseeing successful tests in 1998 that turned India into a nuclear power. He was dubbed the “People's President” for his populist style.

Under the constitution, the prime minister holds the executive reins but the president plays a role in forming governments at state and federal levels, making the post hotly contested.Kalam, the son of an illiterate Muslim boatman, is known for his simple lifestyle despite occupying an opulent 340-room sandstone palace that housed the viceroy when Britain ruled the subcontinent.

Kalam said this week he will leave the palace where he has lived for the past five years with just “two small suitcases” after his term expires July 24. A vegetarian teetotaller, Kalam has said he wishes to return to teaching at a university in Tamil Nadu after leaving the post.

He advised his countrymen, in a thinly veiled speech this week, not to “take gifts that come with a purpose and build families with character and a good value system.” Corruption is rife in Indian politics and bureaucracy. Analysts have wondered whether Patil can resist the pressures of the ruling coalition and act independently.

Under the constitution, the prime minister holds the executive reins but the president plays a role in forming governments at state and federal levels, making the post hotly contested.

 
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