Pranab Mukherjee will be sworn in as the new President of the Indian Republic today i.e. July 25, 2012. The congratulatory note coming from Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on his and on behalf of the people of Nagaland to Pranab Mukherjee on his victory in the Presidential Election, has in essence brought out quite well the context in which Mr Mukherjee will enter the office of the President. As rightly mentioned by Rio, the landslide victory is an indication of the faith the people of India has reposed on Mr Mukherjee to hold the highest office in the land. Perhaps the President elect should also not forget that Naga people have great expectation from him and this can be clearly seen from the fact that Nagaland voted cent percent for the Congress led UPA candidate even though the ruling party in the State happens to be the Naga Peoples Front (NPF). For Mr Mukherjee who has had a long and distinguished career in public life and someone who has been part and parcel of the UPA government for two terms now, this newspaper feels that as the new President of India, he will be in a much better position to lend a helping hand in early political settlement of the Indo-Naga issue, which has been dragging for over fifteen years now. While many may consider the President as without real executive powers, yet the constitution of India does not in any way see this office as that of only a figurehead. The President of India has certain responsibility and discretion and a person with valuable experience in public life like Mr Mukherjee will hopefully discern the areas where the Head of the State may need to even take initiative. So what exactly are talking about here?
One of the areas that the President can act upon is the Legislative Powers that have been assigned to his office. According to the Constitution the President is an integral part of the Parliament. He can send message to either, House of Parliament whether with respect to a Bill pending in Parliament of otherwise such as on any important matter of national, constitutional or public interest. With the Naga peace process nearing the stage of decision making, President Mukherjee can use this power to get Parliament’s attention on taking up the issue of political settlement. The other area where the President can intervene is under Article 78, which talks about the ‘link between the President and the Union Cabinet’. According to this, the government of the day must communicate to the President all decisions taken or furnish such information as the President may call for. Part C of Article 78 goes further to state that “if the President so requires", he can submit for the consideration of the council of ministers any matter of which a decision has been taken by a minister but which has not been considered by the council. So no doubt there is room for even the President to play his role in hastening the Naga peace process.
And now that Mr Mukherjee will be sworn in on July 25 as the new President, perhaps the recently formed all party team of the Joint Legislature Forum (JLF), Nagaland Legislative Assembly headed by the Chief Minister and inclusive of the Opposition Leader, Speaker besides President of both the ruling NPF and Opposition Congress, they should do the right thing by first calling on the new Head of the State and put the Naga case before him. Unlike his immediate predecessor, Mr Mukherjee will know much more about the Naga peace process and the talks being held between the Government of India and the NSCN (IM). After all Mr Mukherjee was recently the number two in the Union Cabinet and also the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which is headed by the Prime Minister and it is quite certain that any agreement on the Naga issue will have to be first cleared by the CCS. A meeting with the Head of State will definitely be worth the effort as the President, even though his role may be nominal, yet he can act as a moral conscience on the Government of India to do justice to the Naga issue. Mr Mukherjee will not easily forget the goodwill gesture of Naga legislators when he came calling during his Presidential election campaign to Dimapur. As Rio mentioned in his felicitation note to Mr Mukherjee, “the good will and prayers of the people of Nagaland” will always be with him, as he enters his new office of “great respect and responsibility”. And who knows given that the constitution vests the supreme executive authority of the union in the President and all executive actions are taken in his name, perhaps it will be President Pranab Mukherjee who will have to give assent to the bill on the Indo-Naga political settlement.
