The 50th year of Independence should be one of soul searching. We are mired in poverty. Our political mechanisms are grossly out of order. Our international problems have become chronic. Tragic as the trends are they could still be reversible if our national character was intact. But we have turned out to be the top practitioners of corruption. That is the fatal virus that has to be first exorcised out of our system.

The nation will now elect its President. Whatever be his legal and discretionary powers, he is the external representative of the nation's sovereignty. A right man in that office will go a long way to restore the shattered national image.

True, the President is the creature of the Constitution and must at all times act in accordance with it. But the Constitution itself compels him to swear to preserve, protect, and defend it. He is to regard himself not as an emperor but as a servant of the people.

Thus the daily conduct of government is not his business. He has to continually advise and warn. He must in the end surrender to the judgment of the cabinet. He would do so because the people have elected a Prime Minister whose policies they have preferred and have willed that the country shall be run by him and his cabinet. But it is absurd to think that the people created a President for nothing except to occupy Rashtrapati Bhavan for five years and sign the papers sent to him. Surely the President was not designed to be a glorious notary public.

Why did the Constitution direct the choice of President to be made by an electoral college consisting of all MPs and MLAs? The answer is that it was intended that he should be the choice of the whole nation, enjoy its affection and respect and function as the visible embodiment of its sovereignty a role not expected of even the Prime Minister.

It follows that the choice of a President cannot and must not be controlled by a party whip. During the election in which V.V. Giri was a candidate, Indira Gandhi set up a precedent worthy of emulation. Not that her motives were high-minded, indeed they were sordid. But in one aspect she was dead right. As leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party she refused either to issue or authorise a whip to Congress legislators to vote in favour of the party nominee.

One of the two reasons which she gave was the legal advice claimed to have been received from Attorney General Daphtary that the issue of such a whip constitutes both an electoral offence and malpractice. It is `undue influence' calculated to interfere with the free exercise of the electoral rights of the voters. Four days before the poll she demanded a free vote. The poll disclosed massive cross voting. A number of Congressmen defied the Nijalingappa whip. The Constitution accordingly insists on secret ballot for the Presidential poll, ensuring perfect freedom of choice.

It is unfortunate that soon after the first two incumbents, Dr Rajendra Prasad and Dr Radhakrishnan, like the rupee, the presidency too has been alarmingly devalued. The next President must be one with endowments that ensure that Indian democracy is safe in his hands. The next President must, therefore, be one who can honestly claim that he protested against the corrupt system and refused to be its beneficiary.

I had an interesting conversation with one of our great politicians whom I would prefer not to name. I wanted to sound him out about his preferences amongst the Presidential probables. He said in the 50th year of independence it is imperative that a person belonging to the weaker sections should be chosen. I reminded him that while arguing the Mandal case before the Supreme Court I had myself debunked the merit argument of the high castes. A formidable battery of counsel argued with passion that merit will be submerged if Mandal is implemented. I rejoined:

``...This argument smacks of the same high caste-arrogance that led them in the past virtually to grind into the dust an overwhelming majority of the Indian people. About 22.5 per cent of the nation consists of Scheduled Castes & Tribes and a fairly accurate estimate of the other backward classes is 52 per cent. So three-fourths of the population were condemned to hell on earth by a small but powerful coterie of the high castes...The backward classes have not effectively participated in the governance of the country which has been run almost exclusively by men of so-called merit.....''

My argument found favour with the Supreme Court and Mandal was substantially upheld. The argument that succeeded is now being misused. The argument was that weaker sections must participate in the governance of the country. The President does not govern. The Prime Minister and Ministers do. In the 50th year of independence a backward class Prime Minister may be of some use to the backward classes. You cannot cheat them by putting one of them in a position which involves no participation in governance. He will do as little for his community as the late Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed did for the suffering Muslims of Turkman Gate or the late Giani Zail Singh did for the burning Sikhs of Delhi.

Incidentally, the Indira and Rajiv governments had turned their back on Mandal. Even the great V.P. Singh did not then raise a finger to help the backward classes. Not once had he dared to talk about Mandal while his leader Rajiv ruled the roost. Only Advani's Rath Yatra woke him up from slumber. It is somewhat ironic that he has appropriated to himself the role of a Messiah of the backward classes. The next President must be able to prove his backward class credentials. What did he do when the interests of backward classes were forgotten?

Lastly the next President should, above all, be a true secularist with a proven record of opposing and exposing the fake secularism which has only debilitated the nation. True secularism is a combination of two allied principles. Every one has the right to profess, practice and propagate his faith. Secularism is the essence of the Hindu religion. Unlike other denominational religions it has no fixed dogma, clergy or scripture. The Hindu way of life holds this country together and weakening it is to destroy national solidarity. The next President must have the courage to affirm this. I respectfully suggest that the nation put all claimants to these rigorous tests. Members of the electoral college shall refuse to be led like `dumb driven cattle' in this crucial year of destiny.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.