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Should there be a President of India? | Opinions | Al Jazeera https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2012/7/19/should-there-be-a-pres...
1 of 11 24-07-2022, 18:26
The latest presidential nomination casts doubt on the selection process used to fill
the position.
The election of India’s next President was described as a foregone conclu-

sion from the moment the Congress party, which leads the ruling coalition,
announced its candidate: the finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee. Yet a bit-
ter contest also ensued. A challenge was mounted by the former Speaker of
the Lower House, PA Sangma, later supported by the opposition Bharatiya
2 of 11 24-07-2022, 18:26
Janata Party. Reports speculated on deals being made by various parties in

exchange for their support for the ruling party’s chosen candidate.
The contest complicated India’s coalition politics. A member of the ruling

coalition, Trinamool Congress, from Mukherjee’s home state of West
Bengal, refused to back him, while a party from the opposition coalition de-
clined to back Sangma. Sangma had to resign from his own party, which is
in the ruling coalition, to run for the Presidency. Meanwhile allegations of
corruption were made against Mukherjee – which he denied. The process of
choosing the “first citizen” of India degenerated into undignified politicking
– the very thing it is meant to be above.
If the answer to who will be the next President of India was already known,
a more pertinent question at this juncture might have been to ask why India
needs a President at all, and by what process such a person should be se-
lected. What is the purpose today of such a supposedly ceremonial head of
state, and is the position by now so devalued as to be beyond redemption?
Discussions about the origins of

the position of President of
India usually refer to the mo-
ment when India became a re-
public in 1950. As the constitu-
tion of independent India came
into force, the position of the
British monarch was apparently
replaced by an Indian ceremo-
nial head of state. But this is Frost over the World – Pranab Mukherjee
hardly a satisfactory explana-
tion. Why did India need an equivalent of the British monarch? Britain
does not have a written constitution, and the position of its monarch
evolved over several centuries through conflict with parliament over power.
This is not India’s history. There may be a case for replicating a constitu-
tional structure from another country, but the case must be made, and
3 of 11 24-07-2022, 18:26
made in terms of India’s politics and constitutional requirements.
Entwined in party politics
It is often said that the President of India is a ceremonial representative of

India, above party politics. But that notion has been undermined many
times, not merely by this year’s contest. Of the12 Presidents so far, nine
were politicians, starting with the first President, Rajendra Prasad. Nor did
they all rise to the elevated heights suggested by the rhetoric surrounding
the Presidential office. In 1975, President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed promptly
signed the declaration of Emergency as requested by Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi, clearing the way for her to rule India as a personal dictatorship. To
be fair, the cabinet and parliament rolled over as well, as did the Supreme
Court, which reversed the decision against her election. Zail Singh, another
Congress party loyalist who was made President by Indira Gandhi, was re-
ported to have said that he would have swept floors had she required that of
him. In the event, he appointed her son Rajiv – a greenhorn in politics – as
Prime Minister after her assassination (ignoring precedent and thwarting
the ambitions of senior cabinet minister Pranab Mukherjee).
Apart from political cronyism, the appointment of Presidents has often

smacked of tokenism. Four of the 12 Presidents were Muslim – an over-
representation of a minority group which was found by the recent Sachar
Committee report to be significantly deprived in terms of development and
representation as a whole. Muslims also suffered the pogroms in Gujarat in
2002, in which the state government was widely alleged to have been com-
plicit, yet its leader remains in power and is seen as a future prime ministe-
rial candidate. Zail Singh was a Sikh President, yet Sikhs were massacred
after Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her Sikh bodyguards and the victims
have never received justice. Indeed, Zail Singh himself was reported to have
been involved in the meddling in the state politics in Punjab in concert with
Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay, which created the extremist crisis in
Punjab in the first place.
4 of 11 24-07-2022, 18:26
Not all forms of “tokenism” are without some
“
positive side-effects, such as breaking barriers
and setting up role models. However, it rather
depends on the candidate and whether there
was any real impact on the group in question.
KR Narayanan, a diplomat before joining poli-
tics, was the first person of the “untouchable”
caste to become President. Dalits, as members
of the lowest castes are called, remain vulnera-
ble and disadvantaged as a group, and in terms of actual political power the
community arguably gained more from the rise of Mayawati and the
Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh. Sangma, the opposition’s candidate
for President, served as Speaker of the Lower House, but has also presented
himself as the first “tribal” Presidential candidate.
Patil’s presidency on the position of women in Indian society.
A party man
Pranab Mukherjee’s candidature is deeply problematic with regard to many

of these factors. He resigned from the Cabinet in order to run for the
Presidency, but that was merely a formality. The fact is that he is a party
man, who belonged to the Congress party for decades except for a brief pe-
riod of rebellion when he had fallen out with Rajiv Gandhi, former prime
minister and husband of the present party leader. Indeed, the
Nehru/Gandhi family’s calculation behind nominating Mukherjee is likely
to have been political compulsion rather than trust in a family retainer:
Mukherjee has always been his own man.
Riz Khan – An Interview: Pranab Mukherjee
Some say Mukherjee has been chosen precisely because he is politically

partisan, which will come in handy for the Congress in the event of an in-
conclusive election result in 2014. Others opine he has been “kicked up-
stairs” as he had to be removed from the Cabinet but cannot be let go as he
is too much of an insider – better have him inside the tent than outside, the
logic goes. The notion that the “first citizen” of the country is meant to be
above party politics appears to have been dispensed with without even the
usual disingenuous gestures.
Moreover, anti-corruption activists in India have accused Mukherjee of be-
6 of 11 24-07-2022, 18:26
Moreover, anti-corruption activists in India have accused Mukherjee of be

ing tainted with corruption – a charge he denies. However, the whispers of
corruption have dogged Mukherjee for many years, and at far higher levels
of political power, given his career, than Pratibha Patil.
Sangma has invoked the historic election of 1969, when Indira Gandhi’s
nominee VV Giri defeated the official candidate of the Congress to win the
Presidency. If members of the electoral college cast votes of conscience, the
result is impossible to predict. But in another respect this Presidential elec-
tion is already historic. While both Mukherjee and Sangma are politicians,
neither is considered to be an obedient servant of any political party. Nor is
either likely to treat the Presidency as a gentle retirement. Mukherjee is a
wily politician, known to be a “survivor”, with longstanding personal politi-
cal ambition. Whether by considered reflection or practical reality, the of-
fice of the President of India is at a moment of change.
Sarmila Bose is Senior Research Associate, Centre for

International Studies, Department of Politics and International
Relations, University of Oxford.
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Should there be a President of India? | Opinions | Al Jazeera https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2012/7/19/should-there-be-a-pres...

The election of India’s next President was described as a foregone conclu-

Janata Party. Reports speculated on deals being made by various parties in

The contest complicated India’s coalition politics. A member of the ruling

Discussions about the origins of

made in terms of India’s politics and constitutional requirements.

Entwined in party politics

It is often said that the President of India is a ceremonial representative of

Apart from political cronyism, the appointment of Presidents has often

Patil’s presidency on the position of women in Indian society.

Pranab Mukherjee’s candidature is deeply problematic with regard to many

Riz Khan – An Interview: Pranab Mukherjee

Some say Mukherjee has been chosen precisely because he is politically

Moreover, anti-corruption activists in India have accused Mukherjee of be-

Moreover, anti-corruption activists in India have accused Mukherjee of be

Sarmila Bose is Senior Research Associate, Centre for

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