India, at times, resembles a puzzle. Perhaps that has to do with some embedded contradictions that seem to have defied time. Consider the demand for giving a presidential touch to a parliamentary system of governance, a tweak that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is apparently keen on. The matter has been raised, once again, after a ‘concept note’ prepared by the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library for a yet-to-be-built museum for prime ministers let it slip that India has, it is often argued, “evolved into an almost presidential-style parliamentary democracy”. This, however, is an aberration when viewed in the light of the Westminster system that Indian democracy is supposed to be modelled on. For the Westminster system looks upon the prime minister as primus inter pares — in other words, first among equals. But India, characteristically, has given its own special twist to such an arrangement. Over the years — cutting across political lines — elected dispensations in India have been synonymous with their respective prime ministers. The Prime Minister’s Office has thus become the focal point of governance with the incumbent emerging as the tallest leader in the council of ministers.

It is not as if the contention of the prime minister as a colossus has remained uncontested. For instance, it has been argued that the dominance of a single figure over the political landscape has resulted in the consolidation of the culture of venerating icons. That explains why cults around political personalities or, for that matter, dynasties are not uncommon in Indian politics. There is another — quite legitimate — concern with a prime minister in the presidential mould. In elections that deliver brute majorities to a single party — 2014 was one example — an unfettered executive that is under the thumb of a ‘strongman’ could threaten to undermine the reach of the legislature, thereby eroding the foundational principle of the separation of powers. The consequences of such skewed ties may not be benign. Narendra Modi’s critics allege that the prime minister’s decision to impose demonetisation on the nation was rather unitary in nature. Unilateralism, it is believed, goes against the tenets of democracy. The reason for the BJP’s excitement over everything that soars — from prime ministers to statues — is perhaps not far to seek.