The subtle influence of India's President

KR Narayanan once said his office held little direct power, but had a subtle influence. In invoking equality in her I-day address, President Murmu exercised the same power

- Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Independence Day is about the Prime Minister. The speech made from the ramparts of the Red Fort that morning marks the day. This is as it should be. And it - was so this year too.

But on the eve of every Independence Day and Republic Day, our President addresses the nation through airwaves. That speech does not get the attention it deserves. Our President's address this Independence Day eve, recorded in her study in Rashtrapati Bhavan, was dignified, stately. The words were well chosen, well intoned. She spoke with calm assurance and her statement, "Each one of us is an equal citizen" was most needed. Equality is, after all, enshrined in the preamble to our Constitution, after justice and liberty. Her words reminded me of the Asokan edict, the Kalinga Edict, which stands close to Bhubaneswar, in her own state of Odisha, in which the Mauryan says, "Sabe manuse mama praja...All my subjects are my children."