Another presidential election went by .And once again battlelines were drawn. This was yet another platform where the political godfathers of our country could exercise a show of strength.Unlike yesteryear polls, this time the whole execise was marred by so many controversies.Till yesterday, the name Prathibha Patil did not mean anything to us. But tomorrow she is going to be our first citizen.No,this is not going to be another charecter assasination plot against the presidential candidate of the ruling combine.My worry/ thought process is on an entirely different track.I am trying to understand the essentiality of the whole drama, the political procedure and ofcourse,......the very ceremonial post.
I am not trying to challenge the eligibilty of the great people who have held this post till now and many more to come. They are all achievers with impeccable records and it goes without saying that I have tremendous respect for them. But I strongly believe that these achievements were all prior to them assuming the post of the President.From then on they have mostly done justice to the name , that has become almost a synonym - the rubberstamp.I know there has been exceptions. But were these exceptions of personalities or instances. I strongly believe it is the second.
Let me try and explain what was in my mind when I made the above statement. I was referring to instances when the decisions made by union cabinets were returned for reconsiderations by our presidents. Both the incumbent and his predecessor,as also a few others have exercised this presidential power. And these were in context of very relevant issues such as Gujarat riots and office of profit bill. This is to say that in the last Ten years, the two highly-educated, highly intelligent individuals with strong opinions, between whom this time zone is divided, had only three occasions (that too when taken together ) where they felt that the Union Cabinet's decission was not in the best interest of the nation and its people.Even if you go further back into the history of Indian Republic, you will find not more than two such Presidential Intervention, which was in times of Mr Zail Singh and Mr Venkataraman.I am sure there were more occasions in the last 10 years when Govts acted in partisan manner. The dissolution of Bihar Assembly, I would say was one such recent occasion, where the Presidential consent had to be imported from Russia, from our visiting President at midnight.
Also the last couple of such interventions did not make any real difference whatsoever to the actions it tried to object or to the future relevance of the Presidential post.In these occasions, the decisions were re-presented by the Cabinet without any changes, which then had to accepted by the Presidents, who are then bound by regulations. After the interventions, status quo Ante was maintained,as far as the scope of the presidential powers were concerned. The incidents were forgotten, only to be remebered when an outgoing president's achievements are enlisted by journalists as a farewell. I regret to say this,achievements they were without any real achievement.
A Need Analysis.
I dont mean to to be arrogant by thinking in these lines. It is only that I was always quite unsure about the necessity of the Presidential Position in a country like ours. Trying to understand the realneed for a President in a country like ours,some of the points that came to my mind are
-High calibre individuals like Dr APJ Abdul Kalam or Late Mr K R Narayanan definitely gave a whole new look & feel of the Changing India to the World.But the flipside is that, I am not sure whether the same thing can be said about Ms Prathibha Patel, atleast at the time when she is assuming office.
- This position is the only check, if it can be called so, we have on the Union Cabinet, whose decisions President can question.As we all know the mechanism has its shortcomings .
- The Position has derived some transparency to its functioning, thanks to Mr K R Narayanan, who introduced the Rashtrapati Bhavan Communique Method, for sharing his rationale behind exercise of various discretionary powers.
But There are many are reasons that actually question the need for such a Position in our country.
- The Presidential Poll has become a highly politicised activity. As we had seen in the just concluded execise.There was so much of mud slinging, in the form Press Conferences, Public Interest litigations and other high voltage political drama. Our leading Opposition Party,instead of pointing fingers at real problems , went to extend of digging out rumours about the UPA candidate and also alleged, in a high profile Press conference,that their Phone Lines are being Tapped in this regard.So much resources wasted on unwanted political drama. If actually their allegations on phone tapping was true, again another waste of time and resources by the Ruling Combine. We are used to various illegitimate collusions and Horse tradings for the Parliament and State Elections,which unfortunately we cannot help. I clearly dont understand if so much of political activity is worth it for a non-political position.UNPA, the self proclaimed Third Front, dragged Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, into controversies by quoting him unnecessarily. On his side, he should have known better than to fall prey to such political gimmicks. Finally we have all seen what has happened to the UNPA resolution of staying away from elections, when Jayalalitha's MPs turned up for the polls in the last minute.
- A complicated format ( at least that is what I feel) is adopted for the election proceedings.All MPs (LS & RS) and Legislators for State Assemblies are entitled to vote.A formula is given to arrive at value of Vote of each MLA or MP, so that there is uniformity in representation of the state.
Value of an MLA, Vote : State Popultion/1000 x No of State MLAs
Value of an MP's Vote :Total value of all MLAs/Total members of Parliament(RS + LS).
There are a few things i would like to clarify, when I go through this.
a. All this actions to have a proper representaion of nation's will. But finally is this really happening. Are the people getting represented . Is there any communication between them & their elected representatives, to understand what their choices are.I am sure there is not even an attempt.So it is mainly the will of the political parties, rather its leaders, that is at play here.I have a strong feeling, correct me if I am wrong, that a majority wanted Dr APJ to continue.
b. Now this is slightly mathemetical. Honestly i dont have a clear understanding of this , so i will be glad if some one can throw light on this querry I have, which is - It is the same people who elect the MPs & MLAs. So is there duplication of representation happening, when both MPs & MLA are entitled to vote.
Increasing The Scope
Can something be done to make a difference to the ceremonial attributes attached to the Presidential post in our country. If we can collectively device a method to incorporate the direct will of the people in the selection of a President, it may result in credibilty in the selection procedure. The "Rashtrapathi Bhavan Communique" method started by Late Mr K R narayanan, is indeed, a very innovative and transparent communication channel for the Presidential will. This method should be made use of, more often, not only to communicate rationale behind decisions, but also to highlight Presidential Opinions. This has to be coupled with more than one, well publicised channels through which individuals or groups can voice their concerns and opinions to the President.Such a system, to some extend, should act as a check to many a decision of the ruling combines which are not taken with a concern for the common man. Mr APJ Abdul Kalam,was successful in reaching out to various sections of the society, such as farmers, students,etc. His understanding of their psyche was indeed, commendable, as can be seen from his observations in book " Ignited Minds -Unleashing the power within India" . If more sections of the society can be reached out in a similar manner, and their concerns are passed on to the ruling community, it will definetely make some Real Difference.Probably then, the achievements may really become Real.
I understand that my suggestion on the National consensus for a Presidential Candidate, may be difficult to implement. But the rest of my opinions, along with many more to come from people who may respond to my writings, are/will be definitely actionable. It all depends on will of the individual who Occupies the Position. we can only hope that our political leaders consider "Independent Thinking" as one of quality criteria, while choosing a candidate for Presidential Post.
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