The new Assembly President

MONDAY’s meeting of the Central Legislative Assembly was in reality a continuation of Saturday’s meeting. On Saturday, Vitthalbhai Patel had been elected President by a majority. Under the Constitution, the election had to be approved by the Governor-General before the person elected could take the chair. On Monday, the Governor-General having signified his approval of the election, Patel was formally installed in the presidential chair. The occasion, as Sir Alexander Muddiman observed, was historic. It marked a definite stage in India’s constitutional development. The President of the Assembly, as we pointed out in a recent leading article, is no phantom or figurehead. He has large powers, and even larger responsibilities and obligations. That Sir Frederick Whyte had exercised those powers and fulfilled those obligations in an eminently satisfactory manner is clear from the handsome and ungrudging tribute paid to him on Monday by the leaders and representatives of every part of the House. Speaker after speaker pointed out that Sir Whyte had set a standard of excellence before his successors which it would be no easy thing for them to satisfy. Still, it was impossible for the House not to feel that he was a nominated President, a President who owed his office not to the pleasure of the House but to the pleasure of the Governor-General. A feeling like this is not conducive to the growth of that consciousness of power and responsibility which is essential to a self-respecting and self-governing legislature. The substitution of an elected for a nominated President removes this feeling entirely.