President raises another objection

Referring to recent suggestions on jettisoning the parliamentary form of government for a presidential one, the President8217;s critical reaction was that the recent experience of instability in Government could not be sufficient reason to discard the parliamentary system.

Quoting the country8217;s first President Rajendra Prasad, he said the defects in the character of people entrusted with running the system cannot be obviated by constitutional changes or provisions, and warned against throwing out the quot;baby with the bath waterquot;.

The President8217;s remarks, made within minutes of the Prime Minister8217;s speech announcing the review of the Constitution, evoked sharp reactions from parliamentarians who had gathered in the Central Hall of Parliament to mark the occasion.

The President8217;s plain speaking on both the economic and political agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance Government will no doubt exacerbate the tensions between Rashtrapati Bhawan and the Government.

Narayanan8217;s strongly worded speech was in keeping with his address to the nation on the eve of Republic Day, when he warned that the poor were getting increasingly marginalised by distortions in economic reforms.

Coming at a time when the NDA Government is still smarting from his critique of its no-holds-barred economic liberalisation policies, Thursday8217;s rap on the knuckles also did not go down well.

quot;Amending the Constitution was in the NDA manifesto. Even the President8217;s address to Parliament in the last session referred to it and Parliament approved the speech,quot; justified Information and Broadcasting Minister and chief troubleshooter for the Government Arun Jaitley.

But the reactions to the controversy were strictly along partisan lines. Opposition leaders questioned the wisdom of the Prime Minister in choosing the occasion of the Republic8217;s 50th anniversary to raise a contentious issue like the Constitution8217;s review.

The Congress and the Left parties applauded the President for taking the Government to task for its attempts to change the Constitution.

quot;The entire exercise to review the Constitution by the Government is politically motivated8230;strangely the Prime Minister himself praised the existing Constitution in the beginning of his speech but later went on to announce the setting up of a review committee,quot; said Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi.

The Left said the President had pulled up past governments for not delivering on the promises made in the Constitution. quot;It is a slap on their Congress and BJP faces,quot; said CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta.

NDA allies, while refraining from criticising the President8217;s speech, felt that there could be no better occasion to begin a debate on the issue keeping in mind the changes that the country has undergone in the five decades since independence.

quot;The Prime Minister has given an assurance that the basic structure of the Constitution would not be violated. The review will indeed strengthen the Constitution,quot; said BJP spokesman Venkaiah Naidu.

But veteran parliamentarian and constitutional expert Madhu Dandavate cautioned that any move to tinker with the quot;basic philosophyquot; of the Constitution had to be countered.

Referring to the proposal to shift from a parliamentary to a presidential form of government, Dandavate warned that wherever such a constitutional move had been attempted, whether in Africa, Latin America or Asia, it had resulted in dictatorship.

quot;The Constitution of India has emerged from the ethos of the freedom struggle and incorporates in it the basic tenets of democracy and social justice. This should not be meddled with,quot; Dandavate observed.

IUML leader G M Banatwala too warned against the move to amend the Constitution, saying the provision for constitutional amendments had permitted it to keep pace with social change. quot;It is better not to open the Pandora8217;s box of constitutional changes,quot; he said.