Checks and Balances: Will The President Of India Abide By The Duty Of Reforms?

Droupadi Murmu has been in office for 50 days and the constitutional ‘voice’ of checks and balances is awaited yet

The monumental ‘Jaipur Column’ that juts out magnificently in the middle of Rashtrapati Bhavan’s courtyard, affords optics as the unofficial sanctum sanctorum of our sovereign. The predominantly cream sandstone structure with red sandstone base has a timeless and priceless inscription attributed to Lord Irwin-- ‘In thought faith, In word wisdom, In deed courage, In life service, So may India be great.’

Perched in the sire line of sight of the ‘Viceroy of India’ then, and to the Rashtrapati of India now – these have been fine words of instructive wisdom for the occupants of the 340-room splendor, housing the ‘conscience-keeper’ of India, ever since.

The Institutional Nature of the Constitution

Aside from the incumbent Bharat ke Rashtrapati (President of India) tenanting their respective terms, these forecourts have hosted visiting Kings, Queens, Presidents, Dictators to Despots of all hues and persuasions, each representing a courtesy call onto the one who is Constitutionally mandated under Article 60 to ‘…preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law…’

Many of whom have upheld that solemn affirmation with utmost dignity, sincerity and apolitical courage that can only be personal to the conscience of the individual concerned, whereas many, could have done a lot more.

The challenge on the various incumbents was to disallow the slide from a constitutional democracy to a diminishment thereof (as it happened, infamously in 1975), and even to a populist one could also have a majoritarian acceptance – the political passions and compulsions of the 'executive-of-the-day' must always remain subordinate to the canons of Constitutional propriety and spirit, as envisaged originally.

This natural conflict or challenge is, at the heart of the litmus test of apolitical conduct, sagacity and ability to remain unbeholden to forces that may have helped the incumbent to become the ‘First Citizen’, in the first place.

While ‘restraint’ is a unique feature of this chair as the Rashtrapati is expected to ‘act on the advice of ministers’ , this does not (must not) debar them from asking for reconsideration of proposals (sending back files), publicly positing issues of urgency or warnings that could impact governance decisions or simply refuse to sign Presidential decrees as a measured means of expressing displeasure and suggesting corrective action.

Real Responsibilties Over Proverbial ‘Rubber Stamp’

Amongst the most assertive, yet constitutionally sensitive Rashtrapati was KR Narayanan who often scripted his own speeches punctuated with facts that forced the dispensation of the day to act or retract on a stated line.

Presidentship for KR Narayanan, did not tantamount to a mere titular head, or worse, ‘rubber stamp’. While addressing the nation on the Golden Jubilee of Indian Republic on 26 Jan 2000, instead of parroting the usual generalities that the dispensation would have shared, he chose to breakaway and express his concerns on the growing societal disparities, socio-economic inequities, rural or agrarian stress, spoke against the elites – clear departure from the rosier picture that the government may have liked to project.

KR Narayanan was not happy to rest on the symbolic laurels of ‘First Dalit President’ rather, he wanted to exercise Presidential discretion, assert Presidential responsibility and to be a ‘working President’ who worked, ‘within four corners of the Constitution’.

By invoking checks and balances and therefore, keeping the executive government on its toes (albeit with moral pressure, as opposed to disruptive discourse), KR Narayanan did the nation and the institution of the Rashtrapati, a value far greater than a ceremonial ‘rubber stamp’.

Is The 'First Tribal' Epithet Worthy?

It is frightening to see how increasingly, people use the word ‘ceremonial’ along with the post of ‘Rashtrapati’, as the definitive adjective. It need not, should not, be so.

We now have the 15th Rashtrapati, who like KR Narayanan’s ‘First Dalit’, has been prefixed with a political espousal tag of ‘First Tribal’. It is factually true, as she herself reiterated in her maiden speech, ‘I belong to a tribal society. I have got the opportunity to rise from serving as a ward councillor to becoming the President of India. This is the greatness of India, the 'mother of democracy’. Indeed, a matter of recognition, but should this be the only calling card?

In fact, KR Narayanan never harped on his Dalit identity or on the caste discrimination he faced growing up, as he consistently sought to emphasize on the positives of societal emancipation of all those who were discriminated against, especially women.

He knew, that as the Bharat ke Rashtrapati, he had a far larger, impactable and courageous duty to do, rather than bask in symbolic nomenclatures.

Checks and Balances Integral for Clean Governance 

The highest point on the Raisina Hill i.e., Rashtrapati Bhavan, overlooking India’s governance quarters of North/South block, Parliament and other Ministries must always retain its apolitical voice, necessary intervention, and unmistakable articulation, in defence of the Constitution.

It simply cannot go silent, purely ceremonial or obliging to the passions of partisan quarters littered across the Raisina Hill. The institutions of checks and balances like the uncaged, regulatory bodies like Enforcement Directorate(ED), Reserve Bank Of India(RBI), Comptroller and Auditor General of India(CAG) etc., free press, empowered judiciary and above all, the institution of the Rashtrapati, needs to be safeguarded from partisan appropriations, suppressions and obligations.

Many have unfortunately bowed to the partisan forces that were responsible for escalation of the said individual to the Rashtrapati post– whereas, many have admirably shed their political past and upheld the apolitical and constitutional covenant, sacredly and fearlessly, without fear or favour.

The acid test of the apolitical anchorage has been the quantum and content of the ‘Voice’ (in a manner that behooves the dignity of the office, yet conveys the message of check and balances).

While the lead-up to the Rashtrapati elections a couple of months back was unusually quiet, unfought for and a bit of a foregone conclusion considering the backdrop of the electoral maths involved – the winning candidate barely made a compelling pitch, perhaps it wasn’t required at all.

All perfunctory and platitudinous statements that followed, were also politely generic.

This is in keeping with the construct of a Rashtrapati's dignity, and as the tag of ‘First Tribal’ settles and it becomes business as usual, the ‘Voice’ emanating from Rashtrapati Bhavan needs to be more constitutionally authoritative, assertive and even corrective, if required.

All Quiet on the Presidential Front

It must be said, that for the last few years the ‘Voice’ from the top of Raisina has only been ceremonial and rather muted – especially considering that the nation has been in the throes of extreme socio-economic pressures, polarisation and ‘divide’ that has been unprecedented.

It is not as if every little ‘masterstroke’ of the dispensation of the day has landed at the right spot. With a fragmented and inefficacious opposition, the onus of calling a spade a spade is even more loaded onto the Rashtrapati. Will she deliver? Only time will tell.

She has been in the office for about 50 days, and the constitutionally mandated ‘Voice’ of checks and balances is keenly awaited – it must be within the ‘four corners of the constitution’ but remain, audible, apolitical and fearless, as the cost of a weakened institution could be fatal, especially one that it at the top of sovereign’s identity and democratic mooring.

Now, with the historic and martial-sounding Rajpath getting renamed as 'Kartavya Path', the onus is on the sole incumbent who resides at the beginning or end of that path having even more kartavya to ‘voice’ its duty. And that reminder at the forecourt standing tall (without a change of name, as yet), will constantly remind the Rashtrapati with the simple and timeless goad, “In thought faith, In word wisdom, In deed courage, In life service, So may India be great.”

(The author is a Former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)