How the office of India’s president is changing?
I am surprised over the ease with which a public figure like Pranab Mukherjee has slipped into regal environment of President’s office. In six months’ time he is a different person in the midst of an array of kamarbandh (a belt-like rope around the waist) who bow whenever he passes their way. I thought he would change the office to bring it nearer to the people. But he has changed himself, to enjoy the ostentatious-ness that the British viceroys had displayed when they ruled the country.
A function took me this week to President House (Rashtrapati Bhavan). I was particular to find out the difference between his style and that of his predecessors. But there was none. A gilded chair looked odd against three ordinary chairs placed on the dais. A buttoned-up officer, probably on deputation from one of the three services, placed the speech pad on the podium from where the president addressed. I must admit that what he spoke was relevant to the present situation in the country.
Yet, this is where he should have changed. He must realise that he is only a figurehead, like the Queen in England. No doubt, he is the custodian of the constitution and all power resides in his office. But it is exercised by the elected government which is answerable to the people. Most of President Mukherjee’s speeches delivered so far are political and reflect his bent of mind as if he is still a member of parliament. His role should be that of a guide and philosopher, but he endeavours to be an active politician.
If President Mukherjee had ears on the ground he would have returned the ordinance on sexual harassment to women. Recommendations by former Chief Justice J C Verma should have been incorporated in toto. Women are opposed to the ordinance because it is inadequate and does not cover the points they had raised.
Strange, after the function Mukherjee retreated to his presidential quarters. His predecessors would mix with the invitees and even have tea with them. He is listening too much to bureaucrats who are creating a hiatus between him and the people. I have seen President Mukherjee’s entourage following him when he visits any place in Delhi. The traffic is stopped as before and there is a fleet of cars in the procession. I once asked Vice President Hamid Ansari why he had such an elaborate security arrangement. He said it was not in his hands because the government wanted that way. I am sure, if he were to make it an issue he would succeed.
Like the vice president, the president’s security is also in the hands of the government and guided by the Blue Book which lays down the quantum of security in the case of president, vice-president, the prime minister etc. First Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru did not want the traffic to be stopped for him. But I recall that Home Minister Govind Ballabh Pant, with whom I worked as Information Officer, rejected Nehru’s request in view of security.
Perhaps the president should have his own protocol division which at present is looked after by the Ministry of External Affairs. The ministry is given to the old practices and emphasises on the ceremonial aspect too much. When he has eliminated buglers to herald his arrival and when he has deleted the prefix “manniya,” he can make some drastic changes, especially in stoppage of traffic. Mukherjee should be a person easily accessible and the office of president should not come in the way.
When I was India’s High Commissioner at London, I found that the Queen had only one pilot motorbike guiding the car. There was no vehicle following her and the traffic was not stopped. Agreed, the conditions in Great Britain are more settled than ours, although the terrorists have been located there as well.
Still security is an obsession in our country. President Muherjee is a popular person who had practically no security till the other day. He should at least reduce it as well as the pomp and show which has become part of the office. Intelligence agencies always exaggerate threats because they do not have to do any home work to assess whether a particular person requires the paraphernalia of gun-totting guards around him or not.
I recall another example of a cool attitude of the British in the security field. When President R Venkataraman came to London on an official visit it began on an ominous note. An overzealous policeman mistook a shopping bag on a railway platform for a bomb. The Royal train was waiting at a station near Gatwick airport to carry the president and his party to Victoria station where the Queen was to receive him.
The policeman sent back the train. No one questioned his judgment till the bomb experts had ‘defused’ the harmless shopping bag. By then the president’s cavalcade had been diverted to a crowded highway. The four motor cycle outriders did a tremendous job, enabling a fleet of cars to weave through a maze of crowded roads to Buckingham Palace where the Queen welcomed him. Even I was informed about the change in the arrangement before we entered the Palace.
Security apart, President Mukherjee has to change the functioning of Rashtrapati Bhavan and what the office entails. Dr Rajendra Prasad, India’s first president, did bring a whiff of fresh air when he stepped into Rashtrapati Bhavan which was until then the Viceroy’s residence. It was so different from the earlier functioning that the word went around that an Indian had stepped in.
The ceremonial humbug should be changed so that it is in tune with the people’s thinking. My complaint is that the office is already too regal and it is turning into something imperial. President Mukherjee may not have taken part in the struggle for independence because he was too young. But he can at least behave in a way that the style of living and contact with the public does not have the distance which the viceroys had with the people.
The writer is a senior Indian journalist.