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India’s First Woman President

After months of speculation, mud slinging, leg pulling by the political parties finally we have got ourselves a new president- a woman president at that which by the way is a first. History has been made with this new president as Pratibha Patil is the first woman president of India who has made inroads into the Raisena Hill.

From her days as a lawyer in Jalgaon to becoming the first woman President of India, Pratibha Patil has seen the rough and tumble of politics including an unusually bitter campaign on her way to Rashtrapati Bhavan.

United Progressive Alliance-Left nominee Pratibha Patil has been elected as the 13th President of India. She won the Presidential election by a huge 3 lakh margin defeating National Democratic Alliance-backed independent candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat on Saturday and became the first woman head of state in a bitterly-contested poll that saw some cross-voting from the Bharatiya Janata Party. In the final count, Pratibha got a vote value of 6, 38,116 while Shekhawat secured 3,31, 306 in an electoral college of 10.98 lakh
The 72-year-old Congress loyalist held several posts in Maharashtra besides being deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha and governor of Rajasthan, but her role in the cooperative movement in her state was at the centre of a controversy in the run-up to the presidential election.

Set to break the male bastion in Rashtrapati Bhavan, Pratibha, fielded by the United Progressive Alliance-Left combine, brings with her a wealth of experience both as a politician and an administrator.

The media was agog with the developments however minor they may be sending the public to a frenzy of curiosity regarding there future president. Many candidates were considered and rejected with even the outgoing President Kalam joining the fray for a while. The former president with his non controversial persona, modesty and unkempt hair had won the hearts of the public at large and they were keen on seeing him for a second term but the quagmire of Indian politics is too complicated to accept the simple logic of the common man.

India should have more Presidents like Kalam. Instead of political people the President’s office should be occupied by non political high achievers especially in the field of science and education whose contribution enriches the image of the nation both nationally as well as internationally. Instead of an Amitabh Bachchan of the entertainment industry we should go in for personalities like an Amartya Sen, Abdul Kalam etc people with a vision of development and progress and above the swamp and sickness of politics.

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