At a time when there are efforts to hit the Indian national integrity and divide the society, the election of Kovindji conveys a great message to one and all
Prof Ramesh C Bhardwaj
In 1997, as a Gandhian activist, I was planning to establish a centre of rural development in Bundi, Rajasthan. Keeping in mind the need of the area and in consultation with the locals, we resolved to start a gaushala. For its inauguration vetaran freedom fighter of Dharampur (Gujarat), Prabhubhai Patel, suggested the name of Shri Ramnath Kovind, then a Member of Parliament (MP) for laying down the foundation stone for our initiative.
We were hesitant in inviting him to our centre in remote rural area—about 70 km from Kota Railway Station, including 20 km stretch without a proper road. After submitting the situation, the delegation was expecting his refusal, but surprisingly he accorded consent to our request and said: “If some of you Delhiwalas are willing to serve gaumata in that remote area, as a MP it is my duty to encourage such activism”. He came, inaugurated the gaushala and stayed with us in a Jhopari for a day. We were all impressed and deeply moved by his enthusiasm. It was rightfully reflected in Shri Anand Lakshman Khandekar’s (a freedom fighter and our local mentor) words that “we rarely find such modest and honest Parliamentarians these days”.
That was the beginning. In the last two decades, our institute, Gandhi Hindustani Sahitya Sabha, has organised many socio-cultural and academic programmes for under-privileged sections of the society, particularly the “janjatis”. And each and every initiative was benefitted by his guidance and blessings.
In 1999, some senior Gandhians granted me the responsibility of ‘Nagari Lipi Parishad’ (NLP) to promote Devanagari script as a substitute script for Indian languages, the especially “janjaati” ones. There is only one “Janjaati” language—Bodo, which has adopted Devanagari script officially since 1975. Militant outfit NDFB was compelling the Bodo Sahitya Sabha and other intellectual bodies of Bodo society to shift from Devanagari to the Roman script. As secretary general of the NLP, I was compelled to join the fray in favour of the Devanagari. We won the battle at a terrible cost of losing Shri Bineshwar Brahma, president of Bodo Sahitya Sabha who was assassinated by the NDFB. At Nagari Lipi Parishad, together with the Gandhi Hindustani Sahitya Sabha, we were determined to work for the promotion of language and literature of Bodo and other such languages. We approached Shri Kovindji for his opinion on the matter. He advised us to hold a national conference of “Janjaati” languages. It was the NDA regime and the then HRD and Tribal Ministries were very receptive to this idea and supported us.
In the first conference, the Janjaati scholars raised a sincere issue regarding Janjaati languages and their inclusion in the eighth Schedule of the Constitution. This was reflected in the topic of our next conference “The Future of Unscheduled Languages”. Soon after Kovindji became chairman of the House Committee, Rajya Sabha, he provided the much needed support to the movement. Under his guidance we were able to organise many national conferences/seminars on such topics under the banner of Gandhi Hindustani Sahitya Sabha. Our hard work paid dividends and in 2003 year, the Government of India bestowed the status of recognised languages to Bodo and Santhali languages. Whenever I visit/meet my Bodo and Santhali peers, Kovindji is remembered with gratitude. When the BJP announced his candidature, I received hundred of calls from those remote areas with great affection and happiness on his nomination for Presidency.
Shri Kovind has worked as a low-profile facilitator for the grass-root volunteers, who work honestly for the nation. He is not only humble, honest and spiritually- guided, but is also a thoroughly gentleman. Once an old lady from his village visited him seeking help in admission of her meritorious son to the University of Delhi. He accompanied them to the University Campus himself and called me to meet. I was surprised to see him there for such a small work and questioned him ‘sir, for this small work you could just instruct me, why are you taking so much pain in this summer’. He responded, “haan, aapko kah sakata tha. Magar jis aasha aur vishvas ke saath yeh Bahanji mere ghar par seedhe Kanpur se aayi hain, uski santushti to mere khud sath aane se hi hoti. Isliye… (yes, I could. But with the hope and confidence that this sister has come all the way from Kanpur to my residence, I was bound to help her personally for her satisfaction).
Since four decades, I have been working in Delhi as socio-academic activist, but I admit that I have yet to see a comparable leader. The media have described Kovindji as ‘a Dalit politician’, I pray to almighty to make all of us Dalit, who has such deep understanding of Indian Constitution, cultural traditions and much needed philosophy of social harmony. He has dedicated his life to uplift the down-trodden without enmity to others. He helped all, irrespective of their caste, gender, religion, region or school of thought. He cares for merit, hard work and nothing else. For me he is an exemplary leader, a guiding force for selfless, honest and humble socio-political activists. As he said on July 25, 2017— “these responsibilities bestowed upon him are also signal to people who are honest”.
Today in the name of caste, gender and secularism anti-Bharatiya forces (including pseudo-academia) are trying to break our national emotional integrity. The presence of Mahamahim Kovindji, in these trying times, at the highest office will convey a great message. As a modest Gandhian, he is a great admirer of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Ambedkar, Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya and other national thinkers. He genuinely understands that future path of our nation will be based upon their collective wisdom. He has rightly expressed his mind in his first speech as President—“My spirit of service to the country has brought me here”.
(The writer a renowned Gandhian and Professor in Department of Sanskrit, University of Delhi)
