The thing is from 1951. The country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was preparing to pass the Hindu Civil Code from Parliament, but the country's first President Dr. Rajendra Prasad disagreed with Nehru about this bill. Both wrote many letters to each other. When Pandit Nehru raised questions on the authority of the President, Rajendra Prasad said that the President is not so helpless and there are restrictions on the government too.
This was the first incident of differences between the President and the Prime Minister in the history of independent India, but not the last. Even after this, there were many such occasions when the official head of the country, the President, not only asked questions to the official head of the Prime Minister, but also reminded him of the President's powers.
Today, in the special series of Presidential elections, we will narrate the stories of five such Presidents, who proved that this post is not just a rubber stamp.
Case-1: When Rajendra Prasad clashed with Nehru on the Hindu Code Bill
The Hindu Code Bill was to be introduced in the Parliament in 1951. Through this bill, laws were to be made for Hindus on matters like marriage, inheritance. Before the bill was introduced in the house, Dr. Rajendra Prasad wrote a letter to the Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The point of the letter was that it was his right to examine the good and bad of the bill before giving his assent.
In response to this letter, Nehru questioned the authority of the President to challenge the decisions of the House and the Government.
On this, Prasad wrote that the President is not that helpless and there are restrictions on the government and the House as well. He wrote that in case of difference of opinion between the Prime Minister and the President, according to Article 143 of the Constitution, the matter should be referred to the Supreme Court.
The confrontation between Nehru and Rajendra Prasad was also seen on many other occasions. The first occasion was for Rajendra Prasad to attend the last rites of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the second occasion was for attending the inauguration ceremony of Somnath temple.
Nehru said that the head of a secular country should not publicly reveal his religious tendencies. On this Rajendra Prasad had said that Somnath is a symbol of national protest in front of the invaders.
Anecdote-2: When Radhakrishnan lashed out at the Nehru government for defeat against China
Usually the President rarely makes statements about the government, because the President is the formal head of the government. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was the first President who did not shy away from giving his candid opinion on any issue and criticizing the government on many serious issues.
Radhakrishnan criticized the Nehru government for India's defeat in the 1962 Sino-Indian War. He blamed the Nehru government for this defeat and accused them of negligence.
Case-3: Rajiv Sarkar wanted to read the letter of common man, Giani Zail Singh obstructed
Year 1986. The then PM Rajiv Gandhi had brought the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill. With this bill, the government would have got the right to read censorship of any person's letters. There was a tussle between Rajiv Gandhi and the then President Giani Zail Singh over this bill.
Eventually, President Giani Zail Singh used a pocket veto to prevent this bill from becoming a law. He is the only President of the country to exercise pocket veto. With the use of pocket veto, Giani Zail Singh re-realized the rights of the President.
Pocket veto means to withhold a bill indefinitely by the President. Using the pocket veto, the President neither accepts nor rejects the bill.
Case-4: Narayanan was the first President to return the recommendation of the government
Usually the President is bound to accept the recommendations of the Government and Parliament, but KR Narayanan was the first President to break this tradition.
It is 22 October 1997. The Inder Kumar Gujral government at the Center had recommended imposition of President's rule in Uttar Pradesh. At that time the first Dalit President was in office, KR. Narayanan.
Narayanan had returned this recommendation of the cabinet for reconsideration. He was the first President to return any recommendation of the Central Government for reconsideration.
After this, on 25 September 1998, Narayanan returned the recommendation of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government to impose President's rule in Bihar for reconsideration. Not only this, he also wrote a letter to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee regarding the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Case-5: Pranab returned the bill for recording the phone call
Pranab Mukherjee is considered one of the toughest presidents of the country. In 2016, he returned the controversial Gujarat Anti-Terror Bill for reconsideration. This bill was pending since 2004 when Narendra Modi was the CM of Gujarat.
Pranab was the third President in 15 years to return the bill. Before Pranab, two more Presidents APJ Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil had also returned this bill for reconsideration.
The special thing is that when Kalam and Patil returned this bill, the Congress-led UPA government was in power, whereas when Pranab returned this bill, there was Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the center.
The biggest controversy in this bill was regarding the provision, in which it has been said to intercept the mobile call of an accused and accept it as evidence before the court.
In 2019, President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to this bill.
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