Why President Pranab Mukherjee could do with some coffee

Amid the din in Parliament and the questionable execution of Yakub Memon, a significant anniversary passed almost unnoticed. President Pranab Mukherjee completed three years in office and while anniversaries of the First Citizen are never a matter of fanfare of the type that governments now organise, this turn in the calendar indicates his preference for the copybook.

It may be recalled that the year began on a note that suggested President Mukherjee was preparing to test the limits of his powers. In a lecture in January and again in his address to the nation on the eve of Republic Day, Mukherjee asserted that use of shortcuts in parliamentary procedure on part of government is against the basic tenets of the Constitution. Clearly, this was an indirect frown on government tactics.

He elaborated in his address to students and faculty of central universities, IITs and NITs on "Parliament and Policymaking" that framers of the Constitution conferred "limited legislative power upon the executive by way of promulgation of ordinances". But, he quickly added that the Constitution makers also "deemed it necessary to impose certain restrictions" and mandated "replacement of such ordinances within a timeframe by the legislators". Clearly, indefinite ordinance raj did not meet Mukherjee's approval.

Yet, he did not test the limits of his powers beyond summoning the minister concerned when ordinances were sent to him. In fact, with the government's decision to backtrack on its no-compromise posture on the Land Bill, Mukherjee has lost an opportunity to display more pluck than he has demonstrated.

Mukherjee's presidency so far is consistent with the kind of politics he pursued in four and half decades of public life. Barring the late 1980s when he quit the Congress and collaborated with Sisir Kumar Bose to float the Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress, Mukherjee never cocked a snook at the powers that be. Temperamentally, Mukherjee is neither given to the kind of flamboyance that was recently in spotlight when condolence messages for APJ Abdul Kalam were pouring in, nor is he a political head of state like KR Narayanan was.

Mukherjee's approach on mercy pleas of prisoners on the death row suggests that he believes that it is not his brief to question government decisions but to follow its advice. But because there have been presidents who tested the limits of their powers, Mukherjee's perceived conservatism comes into focus, especially on sensitive matters like mercy pleas and repeated ordinances.

Every political leader leaves a stamp on the history of a nation. The nation will remember Kalam as one who tested the NDA government immediately after being elevated as president by his suo motu visit to Gujarat and later the decision to send back the legislation on electoral reforms. He will also be the one who questioned both Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh's decisions. True laws had to be eventually signed by Kalam after the government sent it to him without making changes. Yet, his acts were significant because future historians can interpret that his decisions indicated the lack of consensus on the issue.

Kalam was a man who ensured that he stamped his identity in history. Mukherjee is not proactive in this regard and would rather allow others to interpret his legacy. But the world has changed considerably from the time when Mukherjee joined public life in the 1970s. In today's world it is imperative to be more assertive to leave a deep imprint on history.

There is no denying that the president has no absolute powers of his own. But often, delay in taking a decision carries immense significance. History will record Kalam and Pratibha Patil as being extremely stingy with rejecting clemency pleas when compared to Mukherjee. President Mukherjee has two years to change tack and play the remainder of his innings with a freer bat. Mukherjee has been on record saying that after his election and before his swearing in, he had made the best use of few days of freedom because he knew that once he assumed the exalted office, he would be a prisoner of the institution.

Mukherjee must remain custodian of statute books but there is no necessity for him to remain its prisoner. Having been a constitutional expert in his own right, the First Citizen knows that while the limits of his powers are rigid, there is considerable flexibility in the process of reaching that threshold. Hopefully the next two years will see a president who determines how he wants the world to remember his presidency. Perhaps some coffee could help.