Our Preamble starts with these noble words, “We the people”. But in the past 60 years, we have forgotten this phrase in the nuisance of political juggle. Anna Hazare’s movement has tried to ascertain the phrase,” We the people of India” once again. We can make our rulers to think twice while imposing anything on us. It is not the same India which was passive recipient and mostly dormant in the Political decision making but this is an active India which is willing to express its will and can agitate and fight for its participation in any decision making by our representatives.
India is again going to participate in once-in-5 year ritual of presidential elections where again our political masters try to put someone his/her favorite on this post without any exemplary credentials. And the People have a notion that the President of this country is just a puppet of central government who can’t even breathe without the advice of our Prime minister. In perspective of a common man, yes he can’t do anything in policy making because of our constitutional limitations but this post is made by our constitution makers to provide stability at the centre in times of constitutional crisis. Our founding fathers had no confusion about the form of government which we Independent Indians are going to adopt. It was decided by majority in constituent assembly to adopt Parliamentary form of government because of our familiarity with such a system. That is the reason why they made the Presidential post as a ceremonial post in order to avoid two power centers at the Union level and this is the reason why they have made the provision of indirect elections for Presidential elections, so that the Parliament has control over this post and will not become dictatorial in future. Article 61 is one check on any dictatorial tendencies and all this arrangement was done in the time frame when we were an amateur democracy and we wanted stable centre for the development and to maintain the unity and integrity of the nation. The president is the national symbol just like the Monarchs of England.
The role of the President is to ensure the smooth division and separation of powers of legislature, executive and Judiciary because the appointments of Prime minister, Chief justice and all other important persons like CEC, UPSC chairman and other constitutional bodies is done under the President’s Seal. Suppose we have no President post then it will create whole lot of chaos and subjugate the independent functioning of judiciary and other constitutional posts. How?? If there is no president then CJI and Judges have to take oath either from an executive or legislature, it implies it undermines the position of CJI. In that case executive or legislature might give directions to judiciary which may not be in national interest. The independent working of CEC is ensured by constitution because he reports directly to the president but not to the legislature or executive. The pardoning power of president confirms his higher position than the Supreme Court under Article 72. Though now the clemency petition is under judicial review but it cannot circumvent the authority of President under constitution. It is only questioning the delay occurred by the President in taking decisions of these mercy petitions in order to uphold right against double jeopardy of the clement.
Dr. Rajendra Prasad had raised the issue whether President should always follow the advice of the council of minister headed by PM under article 74. Our constitutional debate shows that Dr. B R Ambedkar had positively remarked that the President cannot act contrary to the advice of the Cabinet as his position is similar to that of English Monarch. Constitutional makers deliberately did not mention any compulsion on adherence of advice given by the cabinet because our founding fathers wanted a harmonious relationship between President and the PM. Both should enjoy each other trust and confidence which will become the precedence for future governments. Nehru and Prasad both had shown maturity in establishing strong conventions for this relation apart from one – two controversies like Somnath temple visit. This relation got soured with the application of national emergency during Indira regime, in order to usurp all authority she had brought 42nd Constitutional amendment which made the advice compulsive over president. This led to start of Rubber stamp president which gave a dead blow to this post. The post whose image was fortified by Dr. Prasad and Dr. Radhakrishnan by their vision and maturity was then in shambles.
44th Constitutional amendment had tried to restore some dignity to the post by giving power of reconsideration to the President. This power of reconsideration now acts as a watchdog over any irrational decision making by the government. This creates a lot of awareness among the people through Media which highlights why our President has returned back the XYZ bill? It highlights the reservations of the President which are in national interest and will keep the executives on their toes. Dr. Kalam had returned back the office of profit bill for reconsideration which created a full debate and awareness among the people that how our representatives are trying to pass this bill to save their neck being axed due to holding offices of profit. Dr. Kalam had asked the Parliament to make comprehensive criteria for office of profit rather than using ad-hoc approach. Similarly in 1997, democratically elected government of Kalyan singh in UP was saved when Dr. K R Narayanan sent back the union government proposal of imposing president rule in UP under article 356. He not only saved the country from constitutional crisis by the misuse of Art. 356 but also strengthened the democratic spirit in the states which were earlier at the mercy of the central govt.
Dr. Giani Jail Singh had correctly raised the use of Article 78 which confirms power to the president to call the Prime minister to know about his cabinet working and the policy decision of the government and also President can ask prime minister to have discussion over the matter which president deems fit in national interest and was not already discussed in cabinet. This power can be used by President to caution the government over decision making and to check whether government is running in accordance with the constitution or not. Use of pocket veto by Dr. Giani Jail Singh over controversial Indian postal bill which had the provision of “empowering central and state government to interrupt, detain and dispose any postal article in the interest of public safety and security of India” is one of his great contribution. This bill was unconstitutional as it was against the right to privacy and right to freedom of expression and secondly this bill could be used by the party in power to target their opponents. The bill finally lapsed and it was not brought up again by any future governments.
In the era of coalition politics his role has become more crucial because whenever there is a hung parliament, he has the discretion to call any party to form the government and to ask them to prove their majority within limited time frame. He/she usually follows standard conventions made by his/her predecessors. Due to defection and other political tussles among the parties, President has to keep watch over the strength of the government whether they are enjoying the confidence of the house or not. He cannot adhere to the advice of the cabinet to delay the summoning of the house more than 6 months because this action of the government would be against the decorum of the constitution. The President has all the right to skip the portion of the presidential speech which is made by the cabinet, if he/she defers with the policy decision of the government.
All this shows that our president is not mere a ceremonial post but a post which provides stability during crisis times. President acts as a moral force behind the working of the government. He can provide vision to the government and also to the citizens. Vision India 2020 of Dr. Kalam is the best known example. Dr. Kalam’s charisma and his passion for science have brought lot of awareness and enthusiasm for science especially among the children who are India’s future.
The big question comes now,” why we can’t we raise our voice during the elections of President?. Why can’t we propose our candidates to whom we feel suitable for this honorable post? Why our media won’t have heated debate over the best candidates for Presidency? ”. We Indians have never ever felt the need for choosing or at least voiced our opinion to our representatives to choose a deserving Presidential candidate. Indian president elections are due this year and my whole point of writing this article is that we don't want a dummy president who can't even provide a vision to our country. Our country has no dearth of visionaries like Dr. Amartya Sen, James Micheal Lyngdoh, T N Seshan , Narayan murthy (he himself has wished to become a President in front Media )and so on.
When a new precedence is already set by involving the civil society in the formulation of Lokpal bill then why not one more can be set where not the political parties but a national opinion will decide who will become or contest for the presidential elections, so that we start realizing the importance of this post. For this media has to play a critical role and it is high time that we do something about it, otherwise don't blame our parties if they again put some rubber stamp president on this highest post.
