President of India
Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal, JNU, New Delhi
The post of President in India is offered to one of the most loyal politicians who would submissively act as an automatic rubber-stamp of the ruling dispensation where prime minister decides every thing. Once elected or selected for the position, the President does the things the Prime minister, the Parliament or the Cabinet wants and dictates to him. Being a mere rubberstamp affixable on the documents concerning decisions sent to him by any of them, he cannot reject any of them. The responsibilities are clearly marked as "norms" for the incumbent President. His options to choose are, if not practically nil, thus extremely limited, even when to decide a crucial matter concerning security or constitutional discrepancy that the above-said three sections either overlook or ignore, unless, of course, he decides to fight the matter over. The President, however, can enjoy plenty of privileges including regular foreign trips undertaken for sighting purposes under the cover of the so-called official trips abroad. One, however, fails to understand when the responsibilities of the President are so limited, why the political class makes a big hue and cry over the issue of selection of the President and follow a lengthy process for this? The Prime Minister can as well appoint a person of his own choice. But then, when a Prime Minister does everything in the country, where is the need for a President? And if affixing rubberstamp could be done better by an insignificant official, why does a country like India have a post of President at all?
|
|
