The predicament called President...

There has been a lot of hoopla in the recent times over what should and what not be the set of the qualities a presidential candidate should entail. Though I largely agree with the message, which has evolved out of Tarun’s take on the president, I have my reservations.

The rightly alleged ceremonial office, the president holds is the highest office in the country. Though the portfolios have survived, the values and esteem associated with the offices have highly suffered specially after our independence. Be it the office of the president or the prime minister or any other office of authority, everyone has lost that touch of reverence.

I may sound a bit philosophical but experience tells that this overall depreciation in the values is the miniscule of the larger picture.

These are the remains of those good old days when we used to see the picture of God in our leaders. The charismatic calls of the leaders used to be the only mob pullers. The integrity of their character used to be the ideals to emulate and internalize. These values have lost a lot in the hands of politics our elected lawmakers play and the economic rationality we love to celebrate. You have all rights to disagree. Yet this deserves a sight.

If we connect this whole episode of presidential election with the falling standards of morality in the political arena, we ‘ll discover that the presidential office is one of the many causalities. Leaders don’t think for a moment before throwing allegations against even the most respected seats in the nation. Our legal guardians fall to any level for any single issue, which they think, can arrange some junta to vote for them.

There has been a continuous shift in the goals our leaders pursue and the principles they follow. In such degraded standards of power game the lukewarm response of voters in elections and their falling numbers is no big surprise.

What actually is required is not a sentimental treatment of the situation. The image Dr Kalam has given to the post of the president is very significant. In some special cases he has given statements, which have been used by media to project as if he saw the post as a political one. Though a person of his stature might have never dreamt of changing the nature of office; there must be no ambiguity with regard to the responsibilities the constitution has clearly endowed to the president. It will be injustice to declare this as a ceremonial office; undoubtedly the discretion to decide on the laws rest with the parliament. Vested interests have time to time tried to draw the office and its holder in the race of votes. It can only be left to the prudence of the candidates as to how to deal with such situations. Simultaneously the citizens of the republic should carry no doubt about the post our constituent committee had envisaged when they designed our constitution.