Pranab Babu was succeeded by Ram Nath Kovind, who was previously the Governor of Bihar. Earlier, he was a member of the Rajya Sabha. His six months in office have shown that he has a mind of his own and will not be a rubber-stamp President, even though he is a hard-core BJP man. The year also saw exit of Mohammad Hamid Ansari, who had been the Vice-President for two successive terms. He was succeeded by well-know BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu, who is known by his impromptu coining of phrases and rhyming sentences. As Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, he has shown he is capable of handling the house, which often gets turbulent. His performance has to be watched.

The year 2017 was also an year of elections in which polls were held in seven states, the most recent being Gujarat, considered most important. Even though the Congress could not get enough number of seats in the state to form the government, it is said “it was a victory in defeat for the Congress and a defeat in victory for the BJP”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to put in all his might in retaining his home state. The Gujarat election also saw a resurgent Congress and Rahul Gandhi having been established as a leader; nobody now calls him “Pappu”. He has improved tremendously as a public speaker. His election as the Congress President, succeeding his mother Sonia Gandhi, was also an important event of 2017. In Gujarat, Chief Minister, Vijay Rupani, gets second term, setting at rest the speculation that the state may have a new CM.

Of the seven elections held in the year gone by, the Congress could wrest Punjab from the Akalis. Others states— such as, Goa, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, Manipur and Himachal Pradesh — were won by the BJP. In Goa and Manipur, the Congress could have formed the government, but missed the chance by sheer callousness and wrong strategy. UP was indeed a big win for the BJP and may help party in 2019 general elections.

In the sphere of judiciary, Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment. In a 4:3 verdict, the apex court held that an appeal for votes during elections on the basis of religion, caste, race, community or language, even that of electorate, will amount to “corrupt practice” and call for disqualification of the candidate in any election.

The Supreme Court saw two chief justices— TS Thakur and JS Khehar — retire and the third one, Dipak Misra, taking over as the Chief Justice of India. Misra appears to be quite an assertive top judge.

India was also affected by Rohingya crisis. The Rohingya are considered the most persecuted minority group in the world. They have lived in Myanmar for centuries. Most of them are Muslims in a country in which nearly nine out of ten people are Buddhists. The Rohingya have long been discriminated against, often violently, and the Myanmar government refuses to acknowledge them as its citizens.

The latest and ugliest surge of violence began in August when Rohingya began fleeing into neigbouring Bangladesh, telling stories of mass killings, systematic rape, and torture. At last count more than 400,000 have fled Myanmar and thousands more displaced internally. The Myanmar military denies committing atrocities, insisting that it is combating attacks on police posts and army bases by Rohingya insurgents. But it is clear, as the U.S. government has charged, that Myanmar is engaged in ethnic cleansing. Aung San Suu Kyi, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and Myanmar’s most prominent official, has done precious little to end the violence. That’s probability because the military still runs the country despite the political opening of past few years.

The government also decided that Union Budget would be presented on the first working day of February in a departure from the colonial practice of being presented the budget on the last working day of February. Additionally, the Government did not presented a separate railway budget but in fact included it in the main budget, ending a 92-year-old British-era practice.

The new year will is yet another election year with Karnataka going to poll in May. Karnataka in the only state in South held by the Congress and the BJP may try hard to wrest it. Elections are also due in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan towards the year end. These elections will set the pace for general election in 2019. (IPA Service)