In his farewell address to the nation, Ram Nath Kovind has stressed the need to protect our environment for future generations. The now former President needs to himself introspect what he has done in this direction during his tenure. He has been a very passive spectator to the various crises our nation has been facing.
As President of our country he should have been vocal on issues that matter. The President is the first citizen and the head of the State. He has an important role in the country’s governance as the executive powers of the Union are vested in him and is part of the Union Executive. But he has not intervened on even the attempts to divide us by hate speeches by those fringe elements with the support of the ruling party. Ram Nath Kovind has silently watched the autonomy of the Reserve Bank, Election Commission and other vital institutions being dismantled.
The office of President of India can no longer be an ornamental position as he or she has a constitutional role to play in the discharge of varied duties. The Nation expects the President to be proactive and not a rubber stamp. We will now have to wait and see how Droupadi Murmu performs as the Constitutional head of our Nation.
The yard stick that people will use to judge the performance of our Presidents is illustrated with the wise words of Martin Luther King Jr ‘The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy’.
