'The President is not a just a figurehead'

Seeking to erase the general perception that the President of India was a mere ceremonial figure, former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee said that it was imperative that the First Citizen exercises independent judgement at times of crisis.

He was speaking at a panel discussion in New Delhi on 'The Indian Presidency and the Constitution' organised to celebrate the birth centenary of former President R Venkataraman. Describing Venkataraman as an exceptional person and President, Sorabjee said the general rule is that the President acts on the advice of the Cabinet ministers, "but there are exceptional situations and one such situation where he need not act on ministerial advice is on the choice of a Prime Minister at a time when no party has secured absolute majority". T

he legal luminary said another situation where the President can exercise his own independent judgement is on the dissolution of the House. "These are some of the predicaments a President faces and Venkataram was one of those who faced them on more than one occasion", Sorabjee said. He said during his tenure, Venkataraman had to deal with four Prime Ministers -- Rajiv Gandhi, VP Singh, Chandrashekhar and Narasimha Rao -- all within 19 months. Citing an example where the late President's wisdom was put to test, he said in November 1989 after the General Elections results were declared Congress had got 194 seats, Janata Dal and allies 145, BJP 82, CPI-M had 25.

"Cong and allies total had 205

seats. The problem which the President faced was whether he should in the first instance invite Rajiv Gandhi to form government as his party single handedly holds the maximum seats in Lok Sabha or in view of the fact that the ruling party has suffered a huge defeat, so, invite the opposition to form the govt", Sorabjee said.

He said some experts opined that the opposition should have been invited to form a government but others argued otherwise. "At this point Venkataraman presented before Congress leader K Krunakaran of the three options available to the party: stake claim to form government, decline the responsibility to form government and unilaterally declare that in view of the election results it would not staking claim to form government", he said.

Sorabjee said that at this point Congress veteran Narsimha Rao was for the third option and the next day Rajiv Gandhi handed over his resignation and the President invited V P Singh. "He asked Singh to take a vote of confidence in the House within 30 days. Some questioned the propriety of this condition but Venkataraman went by conventions in this regard," Sorabjee said.