Thread by @KumarSeshadri

A lot of people are upset that #Modi is going to inaugurate the new #ParliamentBuilding and not #PresidentMurmu

I don't have a problem with it. Frankly, I think the office of the President is a massive waste of taxpayer money, and should be abolished.

(1/)

Rashtrapati Bhavan should be sold to the highest bidder and converted into a 7-star hotel, with a portion of their revenues going to the government.

Think about it. For a very long time, the Indian President has been just a #rubberstamp.

(2/)

Whether it was Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed or #PratibhaPatil or #RamNathKovind or #DraupadiMurmu, the office has usually been filled with non-entities. These are political appointees who simply obey the diktats of the people who appointed them.

(3/)

There have only been a few exceptions. The first two Presidents, #RajendraPrasad and #Radhakrishnan, and more recently, APJ #AbdulKalam, were persons of eminence.

Most have been toadies.

The office is simply a leftover of our colonial legacy.

(4/)

In place of the British monarch, we created an equally useless Presidency. At least the monarchy and the royal family has the weight of tradition and continuity behind it. The Indian Presidency has nothing.

Even the speech read by the President is given to them by the PMO.

(5/)

Modi is simply publicly stating that he has no regard for this office and the person occupying it, who owes the office to him.

It's time we get rid of this useless office.

(6/)

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