The NDA has selected a rank outsider, so to say, to be its Presidential candidate. BJP president Amit Shah named Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind—a Dalit leader, a BJP supporter from Kanpur and a lawyer by profession—to the post of chief executive of the country.
The October 1, 1945 born Kovind is as seasoned a politician as he has been a lawyer. He moved to become the central government’s counsel at the Delhi High Court before becoming the central government’s standing Counsel at the Supreme Court (1980 to 1993).
In1978 he became the Advocate-on-Record of the Supreme Court.
His education was in law, earning his Bachelor’s in Commerce and Law from Kanpur University.
His initiation into full-time politics was when he was named for the Rajya Sabha in April 1994 from Uttar Pradesh. He served two consecutive terms, till March 2006.
As MP, Kovind was active in several important parliamentary committees, catering to the welfare of the scheduled castes/tribes, home affairs, social justice and empowerment, law and many more.
As a political activist, he was president of the BJP Dalit Morcha.
—India Legal Bureau