My regards Madam President, your achievements restored my faith in system...

Madam President, Namaskaar...

I felt compelled to write this because my heart could not just let me be at ease before thanking you for what ever you have done for the country .... Never before has such a decorated soul blessed the highest post of the country , never before has such an iron willed person blessed the Indian Armed Forces by being their SUPREME COMMANDER . It is not a small feat to hold the unique distinction of not having lost a single election that you have contested to date, not many of the Indians know what it takes to win always.Your loyalty to Nehru-Gandhi family was widely perceived to be a major factor in your nomination as UPA-Left Presidential candidate, but is not loyalty to Nehru-Gandhi family akin to loyalty for the nation? No wonder UPA Chairwoman Signora Sonia Gandhi described your nomination as a "historic occasion" in India's 60th year of independence. And it was indeed your greatness that you thanked Sonia Gandhi for choosing you and said that your first job as president would be to make National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) started by UPA, a success. How considerate of you!!And you also asserted that you would not be a rubber stamp president and truly you proved to be much more than that... So much that your detractors spent sleepless nights pondering over your achievements, some of which are reproduced below...

Surpassed your predecessor
Former Indian President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam had set very low standards for his successor. Even before he was elected as President, Dr. Kalam was known for his illustrious past as a scientist, innovator and visionary. During his term as President, he endeared himself to people of all ages and came to be known as the 'People's President' or the humble 'President of the masses'. While in office, he constantly sought ways to transform India into a knowledge superpower using science and technology. His vision for India advocated an action plan to develop India into a knowledge superpower and into a developed nation by the year 2020. Is not that outrageous?? Is a president supposed to be 'People's President' or the humble 'President of the masses'?? Is that why that mammoth Mansion called the Rashtrapati Bhavan has been constructed??
In comparison, you set several high standards which perturbed your opponents so much that there were several questions raised about your credibility even before you were elected as President, as your name and that of your family members figured in several financial scams and other crimes.Even after being elected as President, you were more in the news for your bungle ups and matters irrelevant to the country, than for your efficiency as Head of the Nation. Forgetting to salute to the Indian flag at a ceremonial reception for you in Mexico,having conversations with spirits of the dead,insulting remarks on Indian culture and tradition, and regular, expensive, state sponsored holiday trips with more than a dozen family members. At a holiday trip in the Andaman islands, more than 400 trees were chopped to make way for a helipad for your chopper and another 60 trees were felled as they would block the your view of the beach.

Referring to your largely ceremonial post, you had stated that you will not be a 'rubber stamp' President, but your accomplishments so far, have not accorded you a stamp of approval from the people because these foolish People don't really understand what it takes to be a President!

BJP's False allegations
Since your nomination as a presidential candidate, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have highlighted your past activities and made comments as part of its political campaign against you.
BJP leader Arun Shourie authored two articles published as a booklet titled 'Does This Tainted Person Deserve to Become President of India?'. Another BJP leader, Arun Jaitley, announced the launch of a website called Know Pratibha Patil, which contains various media reports and documents concerning the questionable financial dealings of both you and your family. The campaign generated a lot of media attention on you as a controversial and unworthy presidential candidate, but did that deter you ? No, because you were sure that you will win as usual!!!

Legal challenges to candidature
An advocate Manohar Lal Sharma filed a Public Interest Litigation before a bench of Supreme Court of India comprising Justice Tarun Chatterjee and Justice P K Balasubramanyan challenging your nomination for the presidential election 2007. The advocate referred to the various allegations against you and your family members and sought the cancellation of your nomination papers on the ground of your being an undischarged insolvent. The petitioner raised legal and constitutional questions on whether a person declared to be an 'undischarged insolvent', for not clearing a debt to the public exchequer and others, was eligible to be elected president.

The apex court however observed that it could not act on mere allegations, and rejected the petition at the admission stage itself. The court said there was no merit in the petition as there was no document to substantiate the allegations and raised doubts about the petitioners real intention adding it was more of a "private interest litigation". The court ruled:"This petition is filed under Article 32 of the Constitution. We find no ground to interfere and exercise our jurisdiction. However, this will not prevent the petitioner from approaching appropriate authorities for redressal of his grievances".The advocate then approached the Election Commission of India seeking her disqualification. The Election Commission, through an order, replied:"The question whether a person has become insolvent and whether he/she is still an undischarged insolvent has to be decided by the competent insolvency court under the provisions of the Provincial Insolvency Act, 1920, and not by the Commission. The Commission is not the appropriate forum. No action is called for on the part of the Commission on your representation."
Following this, the advocate again approached the court and filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) before a bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice R.V. Raveendran. He contended that the Election Commission had not applied its mind to the matter, and sought quashing of the commission's order. Little did this Manohar Lal Sharma know that when you filed your nomination, you had completed all the homework and made sure that nothing deterred you from winning the elections with a thumping majority.

In another case a Delhi-based NGO also filed a petition before the Delhi High Court alleging that Patil being Managing Trustee of Mumbai-based Shram Sadhana Bombay Trust, which is under the control of state government, was holding the office of profit making her ineligible to contest the President's election.The High Court deferred the hearing until after election.

"Despite all this, you did not say anything and let INC do the firefighting"
The leaders of Indian National Congress and Indian left said that the facts highlighted were a clever mixture of truth, half-truths and exaggerations.They also said that these issues have never been raised in the past while you were a deputy chairwoman of the Rajya Sabha, or during your tenure as a governor. They accused the BJP of launching a "malicious, unsubstantiated and deliberate" slanderous campaign just to damage your reputation. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh defended you and dismissed the charges as "mud-slinging".On Monday 2 July 2007 breaking your long silence, you described the allegations leveled as "false, malicious and baseless".I really admire your restraint while you heard these allegations and awaited a response from Signora Sonia.

Prominent allegations against you that have been controversial are:

Allegations of shielding your brother on a murder charge in Vishram Patil murder case

On 22 June 2007, Rajni Patil, a professor of Marathi in a Jalgaon college, and the widow of murdered Jalgaon congressman Vishram G Patil in a press conference claimed that her husband was murdered by your brother G.N.Patil. She accused you of shielding your brother. She further said that she had written to Sonia Gandhi and President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam giving details about the allegations. Copies of her memorandum to the President on this issue were distributed to the press by Mr. Sudheendra Kulkarni, an aide of Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani.On 13 July 2007 Rajani Patil moved the Bombay High Court demanding that the CBI "interrogate" UPA's presidential candidate Pratibha Patil (you) and your brother in connection with the case before the presidential poll. Rajni Patil's petition stated that the CBI, which was directed by the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court to probe the case in February, must question Pratibha before 19 July, the date for the presidential election because she might get "presidential immunity" if she wins the poll. Does not this woman know of the relation of a brother and a sister? Which sister would not shield her brother??
The lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani said that two CDs had surfaced which contained incriminating material against your brother. The CDs contained footage of the elections for the district Congress presidentship in Jalgaon. Jethmalani offered to place both CDs on record, saying "These contain vital information showing the political link behind the murder." But you went on to contest and win the election showing them your IRON WILL.

Pratibha Women Cooperative Bank
Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank, a cooperative bank set up by you in 1973 in your own name, to empower women, had its license revoked in 2003 by the Reserve Bank of India for alleged financial irregularities. Among the reasons listed by the RBI for cancellation of the license was the faulty loan policy of the bank and loan interest waivers given, among others, to your own relatives. You were one of the chairpersons of the Bank and along with a number of your relatives, was one of its directors. You are currently one of the 34 respondents in an ongoing case in the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court on the subject of mismanagement of the bank and misappropriation of funds by its Managing Directors. But why is that case not just withdrawn, it is quite understood that one needs funds to contest and win every election.In your defence, your supporters pointed out that you were not the founding president of the bank, and that you held the job of the chairwoman for only a month and eight days. They also pointed out that the RBI never mentioned your name in the report,and the court did not charge-sheet you.

Sant Muktabai Cooperative Sugar Factory
A cooperative sugar factory - Sant Muktabai Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana - of which you were a founder member, was found to be a drug trafficking ring, and was declared a defaulter for failing to repay a Rs 17.5 crore (Rs 175 million) bank loan. You had been its chairwoman and director until you became the Governor of Rajasthan. The loan was taken in 1994 when you were its chairwoman, but the factory had failed to repay the full amount. The bank sealed the factory on 23 January 2007 after issuing many reminders. This was the second occasion the mill had been sealed. Earlier, it was sealed in January 2006, but was reopened after the board of directors headed by G. N. Patil - your younger brother - requested for an opportunity to improve the performance of the mill.In 2002 the chief commissioner of central excise and customs, Pune, issued notice to the factory for evading excise duty resulting from diversion of export-oriented sugar by the factory into domestic market.Dubbing as "malign campaign" the allegations, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, defended you and noted that there was never any inquiry under Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act against you. He also pointed out that as many as 74 mills were issued notices in December 2006, and it was "unfortunate that only one particular case has been brought up in the media". Pawar said most of the mills had failed to repay the loans because of persistent drought affecting sugarcane production, leading these mills to go sick.This was when Manohar Lal Sharma, an independent advocate, filed a public interest litigation petition in the Supreme Court alleging that you were an undischarged insolvent relating to the Sant Muktabai Sugar Factory and hence disqualified to remain in the office of the presidency. When do these people learn Just to keep quiet??

MPLADS

As Member of Parliament from Amravati between 1991 and 1996 you had diverted Rs 36 lakh (Rs 3.6 million) from your MPLADS fund to a trust run by your husband Devisingh Shekhawat. This was in violation of Government rules which barred MPs from providing funds to organisation run by their relatives. But you were unfazed and went on following your Patni Dharm, setting an example for all Indian Women.

Views on sterilisation
On 10 December 1975, when you were the Health Minister of Maharashtra, you advocated in Maharashtra Assembly that people with hereditary diseases should be compulsorily sterilised. I really appreciate this vision of yours!!

Purdah remarks
Being an avid social reformer ,on 17 June 2007, you made remarks on the Purdah system, while addressing a congregation of Rajputs in Udaipur:
"Women have always been respected in the Indian culture. The purdah system was introduced to protect them from the Muslim invaders. However, times have changed. India is now independent and hence, the systems should also change. Now that women are progressing in every field, we should morally support and encourage them by leaving such practices behind."

Divine indication
You claimed to have spoken to the spirit of the deceased leader (Baba Lekhraj headquarters in Mount Abu, Rajasthan.
"Dadiji ke shareer mein baba aye ... Maine unse baat ki (Baba entered Devi’s body and he communicated to me through her)," she said on TV camera. Reporters began to report on the message she received of a "divine indication" of great responsibility coming her way.

Little did they know that you get to know everything through your spirits, and you are destined to rule ....