President’s power and values
G.S. Bhargava

The Kalam Effect — My Years with the President
by P.M. Nair. Harper-Collins. Pages 147. Rs 250.

Going by the title of the book, it might be taken that this is one more addition to the veritable library of publications on the former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, highlighting his qualities of head and heart, but let me stress this is not the case. This is an intimate, almost day-by-day account of his presidency, by the author, an IAS officer, who was the President's secretary for the full five-year term.

It is almost a rule in the USA for such accounts to be undertaken. In the case of charismatic heads of state like John F. Kennedy, more than one study of the presidential style of functioning has been published.

Famous jurist, Fali S. Nariman, recalls an incident in his Foreword to the book of being closeted with Dr Kalam in the company of former Chief Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah — himself a perfect gentleman. Following which Justice Venkatachaliah said, "I could feel palpable sensations of godliness and divinity reverberating in me. I was nervous, He is really God’s own man."

But the book is more about Kalam’s presidency and not the person. He is perhaps the greatest head of state to date, in the league of Dr Zakir Hussain and Dr S. Radhakrishnan.

Dr Radhakrishnan was an activist President. During the 1962 border conflict with China and its uneasy aftermath, he forced Nehru's wavering hand to clinch the issue of dropping Krishna Menon as Defence Minister. When asked whether it was true if Krishna Menon had been replaced, he replied, "Unfortunately it is not true!"

Dr Zakir Hussain faced a similar situation but differently. Pressed by Raj Narain, a Rajya Sabha member, about the employment of child labour on below par wages at a carpet-weaving factory run by an MP, he asked his secretary what had happened to the complaint. The secretary apprised him of its dispatch to the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, adding that her secretariat had not reported any action in the matter so far. "What does the President do then?" he asked. The President's "moral authority is exhausted, sir", the secretary added. "What kind of moral authority is it?" the President wondered ruefully.

Dr Kalam is different from both Dr Radhakrishnan and Dr Zakir Hussain. His forte lay in upholding what he regarded as values in life and the duties of the President. In the process, he suffered, if not the slings and arrows of adversity, the displeasure of vested interests.

The issue was MPs, ministers and others holding office of profit. A complaint that Ms Jaya Bachchan, a member of the Rajya Sabha, held an office of profit boomeranged and a galaxy of VIPs found themselves at the receiving end of a similar charge. As Parliament was in recess a presidential ordinance for exoneration of such persons was needed.

The Cabinet Secretariat sent to the President the draft of such an ordinance along with a copy of the Supreme Court ruling on the subject requiring a fresh declaration of assets by the VIP and his/her spouse. But the draft ordinance had left out the declaration of assets The President personally studied the matter, consulting senior jurists. He found the omission unconscionable and returned the proposal for reconsideration by the Cabinet.

The Cabinet reconsidered the draft and returned it in the original form. As it turned out, while the President wanted the Supreme Court judgment on the declaration of assets to be adhered to fully, as it ensured transparency, the Cabinet was for overriding it. "It was pointed out to the President that the ordinance was required precisely because a departure was being made from the directions of the Supreme Court which formed the basis of the June 28, 2002, order of the Election Commission."

It is normal in such a situation for the Prime Minister to meet the President and discuss the matter but Dr Manmohan Singh did not do it. It was said the issue rubbed the Congress party president the wrong way and she did not forgive Dr. Kalaam for it. But Dr Kalam bore no grudge on that score. On May 17,2004, when a live television show highlighted party MPs plumping for Sonia Gandhi to be Prime Minister, Rashtrapati Bhavan had readied itself to appoint her as Prime Minister. Instead, she brought Dr Manmohan Singh as her nominee for the post.

It was claimed to be a change of heart induced by 'inner voice'. But it was not so in 1996 when she approached the then President with a claim that 272 MPs supported her candidature for prime ministership. She would have been the Prime Minister if Mulayam Singh Yadav had not backed out.

The book is a readable account of the tenure of a great head of state.

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