The reverse of this assertiveness was the presidential pusillanimity witnessed in the signing of the ordinance imposing emergency on the nation in 1975 by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed without protest. President Neelam S. Reddy showed some chutzpah resisting the Mandal Commission ordinance and granting of minority status to the Aligarh Muslim University. Limits of presidential power were however tested during the term of Giani Zail Singh (1982-87), who began his term pronouncing that he would sweep the floor if so required by Indira Gandhi. Following her death, he was forced to fight back, for presidential dignity, after her son and successor Rajiv Gandhi for two years breached convention and constitutional provisions in denying the president consultation and information. At the beginning of 1987, casual sacking of the Foreign Secretary had already irked public opinion when President Singh held up the Postal Bill, proposing government snooping of mail. Then followed the Bofors scandal, rout in Haryana elections and resignation of defence minister V.P.Singh. President Singh claimed controversially the inherent power to sack a prime minister who was using his office to cover-up malfeasance. He based it on the presidential Oath of Office, which unlike that of the Prime Minister, as per Article 60 of the Constitution, enjoins the president to ” ...the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law..”. This he concluded over-rode the limitations imposed by A. 74. A humbled Rajiv Gandhi sued for peace and surface amity was restored as Singh’s term ended in July 1987.