It doesn’t matter

Today is indeed an important day in Indian history , the day a woman became the president of the largest democracy in the world . Even US hasn’t had a woman president till date though presidency means something totally different there . But then what does “The President” mean to an ordinary citizen . To me and I hope it is right , it is a highly symbolic post whose owner has no powers what so ever in the matters concerning the country . It is ironical that the first citizen of the country symbolizes what is the state of every ordinary Indian citizen’ – of helplessness . All the hullabaloo for choosing somebody for the post is highly unwanted and it is just for political parties to show their clout. And with all the mudslinging against each other’ s candidate it looked like anything except choosing the president of the country .
So after all this did we get the right president ,a person of high integrity who commands respect and whose past life has at least been of some good to the country ?. A blog I visited , read “by choosing Prathiba Patil, the country has already lost “ . It had mentions of the cases against her family members , crores of property and her dvivine ability to talk to the dead . As is the case with any politician in India , we all know how they earn their money , how they use their powers but they cannot be charged unless proven blatantly . Though personally I would say she is a wrong choice for the very reason that she should be cleared of everything against her before she occupies presidency , my repudiation is for a totally different reason– of her and the parties who supported her being extolled for us having our first woman president . Though I didn’t watch her post-swearing in speech , I am sure it must have had lots of women talk in it , meaning about the upliftment of women . Firstly ,even her selection was pure politics . The congress and left parties couldn’t agree on an extension for Kalam nor on the choice of other candidates like Shivraj Patil , Pranab Mukerjee and Somnath chaterjee . So somewhere out of the blue came Pratibha Patil’s name and she was chosen because nobody had anything against her. The fact she was chosen just because everybody favored a woman president is conspicuously false. Leaving the issue of her choice , neither has Prathiba Patil got a past record of working for women’s empowerment or anything concerning them . She was another woman politician whose name I first heard when she was selected as a presidential candidate and I am sure it is true for most people like me. Does she even know of the plight of women and what to work towards even if she wants to . A woman president doesn’t mean the state of women in the country has improved . Ignoring the exceptions , women still are the same suppressed lot whether in the metropolitan cities or in the villages , considering being modern doesn’t mean something has changed . In this country women are still helpless as before . The farmer wives in vidhabha are struggling for a living after their husbands suicides and are being pushed into prostitution . A 22 yr-old woman had to stage a semi nude protest on the road just to get the attention of the press , for her complaints against her in-laws and husband for domestic violence fell into deaf ears . Similar case of nude protests by Manipur women against the atrocities on them by the Indian armed forces . There are millions of women living in poverty not to mention their irresponsible husbands, who are factotums of their familes . There are cases of women who go out far for work , traveling in train ticketless , working in inhuman conditions just for 30 rupees a day . They come back well into the night only to see everyone sleeping and to finish their chores (as is expected out of every indian woman ) , rest for a few hours and start back to work still when the others are sleeping . They get to talk to their families only on Sundays when it is an off .They wont even know what India is and what presidency is . And as I mentioned earlier it is not just the villages . Women in the cities are educated , suave and earn equally to men . But are these the signs of empowered and liberated women . Comparing with any developed country (hoping that is what India is trying to become) even the most ultra modern of women don’t have the liberty of how to live their lives , what to wear , what to study , where to work , when to get married , whom to get married to and whether to continue with their profession after getting married . However modern they are , they still are brought up to serve their men and children , though I am sure many may not agree with this openly . I hope I am wrong but I am sure I am not .
Women in India don’t need symbols like Prathiba Patil . Nothing is going to change if they have a woman president . It simply doesn’t matter.