Either it is dharma in public life or the twilight of Indian democracy
Nani Palkhivala on the President's dilemma
The President has to ensure that a hung Parliament does not result in the public morality being hanged. Few people realise the high moral tones which is the essence of the Indian Constitution. The President has to make a value-based decision so that democracy may survive in
India beyond our times and in the days when our place will know us no more.
The matter is left to the President's sense of public decency and honour. The Constitution is silent on the point, but in our Constitution what is left unsaid is often more important than what is said.
The President has not only to act impartially but he has to act nobly. He represents the nation's dharma. He is the keeper of the country's conscience. As the first citizen of the country, he has to make the decision with buddhi -- a decision that no computer can ever make. We are faced with the stark alternative of either dharma in public life or the twilight of Indian democracy.
The nation's leading constitutional lawyer spoke to A Ganesh Nadar
Elections '98
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