ISAS Briefs

Debating the role of the President in the Constituent Assembly on 21 July 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru articulated some of the dominant political expectations of the time, arguing that even though 'we did not give him any real powers' in the proposed Constitution, 'we have made his position one of great authority and dignity'. As the discussion unfolded, Nehru made the case for the President being first and foremost a 'symbol' of the country, one who, despite not having the powers of the American President, is like him, the Commander-in-Chief of the defence forces. What India's soon-to-be first Prime Minister chose not to focus on in his speech that day was the crucial political role inbuilt by the Constitution into the Presidency. The sheer moral certitudes attached to the Presidency and its ceremonial aspects have always served to obfuscate its key political function ever since and fostered a somewhat romanticised view that the Presidency is somehow meant to be an apolitical office. As the Constituent Assembly's member from Bihar, Tajamul Husein, later argued, 'the first President of India would be the first gentleman of the land and equal to any monarch in the world'. Irrespective of gender, the sentiment behind this expectation was clear from the beginning.