Some home- truths from the President

Addressing the nation to mark the 64th Republic Day, President Pranab Mukherjee — in his maiden speech from Rashtrapati Bhavan on this day — spoke some home truths, as anyone who feels and thinks deeply would. Thus, structural concerns were raised along with those that have touched us deeply as a people in recent times. And yet the country might have wished for more pointed counsel from the first citizen that the government cannot easily overlook.

It is easy to see that the Rashtrapati is deeply anguished by the December 16 Delhi gangrape case. He refers to it directly and without mincing words in a way one wishes government leaders and other leading politicians had done by immediately reacting as human beings with a conscience to that horrible episode, without first waiting to see if it had caught national attention. Nevertheless, Mr Mukherjee is yet to reveal if he has liberated himself from the broad mindset of patriarchy in approaching the issue of gender inequality.

He tells us what the Vedas say about the concept of “mother” and from there seeks to invoke the idea of justice and dignity for women. In short, that calls for raising them on a pedestal. But this is not what the contemporary idea of equality and justice is about. Just as caste and class inequities cannot be defeated by urging communities to live in a spirit of amity and cooperation but by challenging the basic notions that sustain them, and then calling for appropriate laws with which to put up resistance to vested interests, gender bias and inequality need to be fought from the firm terrain of appropriate laws. The President could have goaded the government to move with speed in that direction, as the Justice

Mr Mukherjee is yet to reveal if he

has liberated himself from the broad mindset of

patriarchy in approaching the issue of gender

inequality

Verma panel has observed.

Mr Mukherjee raises our spirit by asking if our legislatures reflect emerging India, or are radical reforms needed. He has also urged elected representatives “to win back the confidence of the people”. This is certainly in response to the cry from the streets ( as we saw during the Hazare campaign, for instance) but Rashtrapati Bhavan could have urged the furthering of reforms proposed by the Election Commission.

The President has also done well to point to the scourge of poverty even at times of rising growth, and appropriately refers to keep in view “the persisting problems of market- dependent economies” before the “current pockets of violence” acquire a “far more dangerous dimension”. These are not misplaced sentiments that a troubled, albeit rising India, may disregard.