Pratibha Patil was not even the first choice of the Congress Party. An accidental choice of squabbling partners, foisted upon an incredulous nation, she utterly lacks credibility. She does not even have a politician’s dubious track record. Some shortsighted and loudmouthed politicians would want us to believe that they have created history by getting a woman elected to the highest office of the land. But let us not forget that more than forty years ago, we had a woman occupying the more powerful position of Prime Minister.  

Finally I am angry and sad at our system that allows a handful (surely less than 100) of men and women to decide who should be the titular head of 1.2 billion people. Surely India and Indians deserve much better. Pratibha Patil is an afterthought, dredged up almost as an apology. Is it our fate that we have to suffer her for five years?