The President who stood tall

KC Singh

THE President of India has been in focus since the Uttarakhand crisis. Eventually, a floor test was held, after much political and judicial meandering, which Pranab Mukherjee could have avoided by refusing to impose President’s rule, a mere 24 hours before the test’s earlier scheduling. 

The late President, Dr APJ Kalam, on a state visit to Russia, similarly casually approved President’s rule in Bihar in May 2005. In both instances, the judiciary had to rectify the executive’s constitutionally-suspect action. 

Meanwhile, the 100th birth anniversay of the late President, Giani Zail Singh, was celebrated at Rashtrapati Bhavan — presided over by Mukherjee. Not seen were the Gandhi family, and senior Congress leaders from Punjab, perhaps still chary to openly associate with the only Sikh/Punjabi to hold the highest office and outplay Rajiv Gandhi. The celebration would be incomplete without recalling his contribution to reshaping the President’s office/role. 

My recollections of that saga, as a close aide to the President and in draft form since I retired in 2008, are under way as a book. That period assumes significance today as again India has an assertive Prime Minister, with a parliamentary majority, and a politically astute President. The next year brings elections in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state and backbone of the BJP’s 2014 Parliament capture, as well as election of the next President. The drum beat to polarise the votes is already audible. 

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No President, other than the first, Dr Rajendra Prasad, has got a second term. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, lacking numbers to put a party loyalist on Raisina Hill, and perhaps shrewdly like Nehru, preferring an intellectual like Dr Radhakrishnan to a party apparatchik, chose Dr Kalam,  a Muslim, a scientist and a South Indian. Modi, going by his selection of the BJP president, would prefer a loyalist, though if UP is not won, may also lack the numbers. President Mukherjee witnessed the 1987 saga from the sidelines, still not back in the Congress, and surely remembers Gianiji’s evolution from a loyalist — lampooned for saying he would even sweep the floor if Indira Gandhi desired — to a President who rose to abide by his oath under Article 60 to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution”. 

The Zail Singh presidency falls into two parts: with Indira Gandhi as PM (1982-84) and Rajiv Gandhi as PM (1984-87). If Indira had continued in office, possibly Gianiji would be remembered only for the 1984 NT Rama Rao (NTR) episode. Dismissed as Chief Minister by the Governor for loss of majority, the President received NTR with his MLAs, despite the PM’s unhappiness. As they entered Rashtrapati Bhavan, the media photographed and counted them, forcing even a recalcitrant Indira to reverse the earlier decision. Governor Ram Lal was sacked and NTR reinstalled as Chief Minister. This was in 1984 and a decade before the famous SR Bommai judgment of the Supreme Court. President Mukherjee followed this play-book, partially when he received a Congress delegation, but then hastily signed the President’s rule proclamation. He may yet evolve like Gianiji, but for now, he has sullied his record.

Gianiji’s innings at the Centre were continuously under the shadow of Sikh militancy in Punjab, both as Home Minister (1980-82) and later, as President. As a devout Sikh and ‘giani’ (implying deep understanding of Sikh tenets and religion) and formerly a successful Chief Minister of Punjab, he was ignored by the Union Government’s Punjab handlers arguing his rivalry with Chief Minister Darbara Singh. He was not consulted over the 1984 Operation  Bluestar and only briefed when it was well under way, exacerbating the distrust between the Indira Gandhi establishment and Gianiji. Even today, the question is understandably asked in Punjab, why did he not resign after the operation on the holiest Sikh shrine by the forces of which he was the notional Supreme Commander.

Gianiji, after visiting the Golden Temple complex, when the operation had barely ended and the stench of death still lingered, instinctively wanted to quit, but seeing the mutiny by Sikh troops, he realised that his resignation would inflame, rather than help, the crisis. Had he resigned, as Capt Amarinder Singh did, with his oratory, political skills and mastery over the scriptures, he would have been the uncrowned king of Punjab, for life. Unfortunately, Rajiv Gandhi and his aides failed to appreciate that when it came to the crunch, he sided with the nation, rejecting political opportunism. 

The assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh guards and the resulting slaughter of innocent Sikhs, particularly in Delhi, added deep insult to the injuries inflicted by Operation Bluestar. Here was a Sikh President, watching helplessly as his Sikh brethren were massacred. This time, the resignation was not an issue and the hurt too deep for easy healing. Regrettably, Rajiv allowed his personal tragedy to colour his public conduct. He assumed office, won a landslide victory and began governing, as if the President of India did not exist. He forgot that the presidency has residual power that a shrewd holder, despite constitutional amendments, can rally, as the President’s oath — unlike that of the Prime Minister — makes him a protector of the Constitution. 

Gianiji’s presidency thus became about defending the honour and legitimacy of his office in the face of an assertive executive. He ignored Rajiv Gandhi’s political slights, reduced visits to Congress-ruled states, preferring instead the Opposition-held ones, biding his time till the tide turned. Then as 1987 opened, he struck as Rajiv Gandhi was hobbled by Bofors; Haryana electoral wipeout, with the Congress winning only six seats; resignations of key ministers and principal aide Arun Singh; a misconceived postal Bill proposing censorship, etc. Gianiji restored the requisite balance between the two top offices, which no Prime Minister has tested in the last two decades. 

He would jokingly ask why celebrate birthdays when they reminded one of mortality. The centenary is actually a celebration of a humble man who rose to great heights without losing his common touch. He demonstrated that the President, as the custodian of the Constitution, can be the eventual arbiter to rectify institutional imbalance. That lesson would be for President Mukherjee Gianiji’s return birthday gift.

The writer is a former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs