New Delhi, March 4
In an unprecedented
decision, President A P J Abdul Kalam has cancelled all his public functions
till the General Election is over, voluntarily binding himself to the Election
Commission’s Model Code of Conduct though the President does not come under its
purview.
On the other side of the spectrum is Vice-President Bhairon Singh
Shekhawat who has neither followed in the footsteps of the President nor intends
to do so as far as the code of conduct is concerned.
President Kalam was to
inaugurate a seminar at Vigyan Bhavan in the morning today on: “Army 2020: Shape,
Size and Structure and General Doctrine for Emerging Challenges”, organised by
the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS). He did not go to Vigyan Bhavan.
Rashtrapati
Bhavan sources told The Tribune that the President had taken upon himself the
responsibility of honouring the EC’s model code which came into force on
February 29. Today’s function was the second which the President did not
eventually attend since February 29, the first one being his visit to Guntur
(Andhra Pradesh) on March 2.
Sources said President Kalam had already given his
consent to attend the Krishna Kant Memorial Lecture in Parliament Annexe
tomorrow, but Rashtrapati Bhavan has already intimated the organisers of the
lecture that the President would not be able to attend as of now. It is
understood that the lecture has been deferred, not cancelled, and would now be
held after the elections when the President would not have any qualms in
attending it.
President Kalam, sources said, felt that whichever function he
attends where he has to render a speech, he would inevitably be talking about
the government’s achievements and future programmes, which can suck the office
of the President into the cesspool of narrow party politics.
Today’s seminar
on “Army 2020” is a classic example of this as Dr Kalam has been talking of his
vision of India becoming a superpower by the year 2020. The Vajpayee government
has also adopted Dr Kalam’s dream of turning India into a superpower by
2020.
Sources said wherever Dr Kalam goes, he talks of his Vision 2020 and
speaks on his favourite theme of development. This is precisely what the
Vajpayee government leaders have also been talking about at various fora.
Secondly,
sources said, President Kalam makes no attempt to hide his heart-felt
appreciation for the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and
praises Mr Vajpayee in his public speeches.
This is one area where the
Vice-President has a different style of functioning, sources close to Mr
Shekhawat told The Tribune. Mr Shekhawat sticks to the main theme of the
function and does not talk about Prime Minister Vajpayee or his government,
sources pointed out.
In keeping with this tradition, Mr Shekhawat today
attended the World Bamboo Congress here and delivered the valedictory address.
He is going to Jaipur tomorrow for Holi and will come back only on March 8 late
evening or March 9 morning. On March 9, Mr Shekhawat is to attend a public
function here, which sources said, he would.
This is probably the first time
when the President of India has voluntarily bound himself with the EC Model Code
of Conduct, though such a code does not apply on the President or the
Vice-President. In fact, the President of India is the custodian of the
Constitutional body like the Election Commission and appoints Chief Election
Commissioner as well as Election Commissioners.
