The office of the president is largely ceremonial when a government with a very comfortable majority is ruling the country and the times are more or less normal. But that is not the case now. To begin with, the Manmohan Singh government is a coalition and its majority is very uncomfortable. It has to continuously worry about its majority. The prime minister is frequently heard saying that he has the numbers, trying to assure his partymen and allies that he can sail through Parliament. But then, he is not sure of his own allies.