Want to be Speaker of the Lok Sabha- you better be a woman or a Dalit

The newspapers have been abuzz with the nomination of Mrs. Merira Kumar as the speaker of the Lok Sabha. As a woman I am delighted that after a female President we have a woman presiding over the apex Governmental body of our country. But what is puzzling is that this is the only qualification of Mrs. Kumar that everyone seems to be talking about. The fact that she is a woman and a Dalit seem to be the only two things that are being highlighted. All the analysts and the powers that be are calling this a political coup by the Congress led UPA Government in a bid to win the female and Dalit vote bank in the country.

Sure, a party's got to do what it's got to do stay in power but have we become so politicised as a nation that talks of such an important nomination purely for the sake of vote banks does not shock us any more? Not a single article has a profile of her long political career, the work she has done or even her legacy from her father Jagjivan Ram. I am not qualified to say whether she will make a good speaker or no, but as a citizen I can surely ask why no one is even asking why she has been nominated to the post. I want to know why we feel it is alright for her nomination to
be presented in such brazen political terms.

And this is not the only instance where the media has proudly paraded the total death of merit as a basis of selection for a seat in the parliament. When the TV channels were covering the swearing in ceremony of PM Manmohan Singh a reporter for India TV used the word "Malaidar" to describe the most desired portfolios in the cabinet. The term "Malaidar" literally means where the potential of earning is the most. He felt that it was alright to describe cabinet berths in terns of their potential earnings as vs. their importance to the nation.

But then again in a country where we have had years of fragmented verdict and Governments that have had to openly bow to political allies to stay in power and horse trading is a commonly used term, this is bound to happen. In a nation where cast, state of residence and whim are far more important in voting than track record, such things are bound to happen.

All said here is wishing Mrs.Kumar a successful tenure as the speaker and let us hope that even though nobody seems to be talking about them, she has the skills needed to pull this off.