I will not be a rubber-stamp President: Pratibha Patil

New Delhi, Aug 4: Having cushioned a vitriolic campaign in the run-up to the Presidential election, Ms Pratibha Devisingh Patil, the first woman occupant of Raisina Hill, has asserted that she will not be a pushover and her elevation to the country's highest office is not a mere tokensim.

''I will be a political President and an not going to be a rubber-stamp,'' Ms Patil said.

The 73-year-old President, who was a butt of trenchant attack by the opposition NDA, said there were several issues on which suggestions could be passed on to the government.

''A President can always discuss with the government suggestions -- on critical issues -- and the government after due consideration, can accept or reject those sugestions,'' she told Outlook magazine in an interview, the first after becoming President.

When asked if she found the bitter presidential campaign in which she was personally targeted difficult to handle, Ms Patil said she was never upset.

''I knew what was being said was baseless. If it represented the reality, I would have been perturbed,'' she said, adding that as far as she was concerned the BJP's campaign and the manner in which the Congress dealt with it was ''a closed chapter.'' As India's first woman President, Ms Patil said she was keen on addressing problems being faced by the rural masses and the deprived classes.

''I am particularly interested in rural development, the rural economy, women's development, welfare of the backward castes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, education and health.'' Though some women celebrities have described her elevation to the Presidency as ''mere tokenism'', Ms Patil was quick to point out that she was a feminist at heart and women would have to play a more significant role in post-independent India.

''At the time of the freedom struggle, there was a movement, there was a fervour -- then things became routine, women returned to their homes, to their roles as housewives.

''I am not saying that women should not be wives and mothers, but they should all play a role in nation-building in any way they can.

They can perform their duties as housewives and still make a contribution, according to their on abilities, for the development of the nation.'' About her own political career, she said it was not always easy.

''I had to face many problems -- I contested elections to the Maharashtra assembly at 27, before I got married, and won,'' she said.

When asked what made her keep her maiden name even after the marriage, she pointed out: ''I had contested elections before I got married -- people knew me as Pratibha Patil. So I kept the name.

People accepted it -- my husband accepted it.'' To a query if taking over the mantle from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, hailed as 'People's President', would be a difficult one to follow, Ms Patil responded rather cryptically: ''Accessibility should not be a problem.''

UNI