70th Years of constitution
On 26th January 2020, Republic of India is going to become
70 years old. It is really a great achievement. At the time of celebrating 70
years, we must thanks to the leaders of our previous generations who have done
extraordinary sacrification to make this nation out of many nations by giving
this wonderful constitution. On 26th January 1949, Constituent Assembly
adopted the Constitution of India and it became effective on 26th January 1950.
The Constitution of India declares India as Sovereign, Democratic Republic and
Secular Country which assures the Justice, equality and liberty to its
citizens. It assures us dignity of the individual and unity of India and also
promotes the fraternity. This Constitution has given us Federal Parliamentary
Democracy system in which The President of India is the head of state and Prime
Minister is the head of Government. This Constitution also allows us to follow
duel Polity system which consists of central authority at centre and states at
the periphery. Indian Constitution also defines the requirement of democratic
institutions and its organisational power and limitations. Thus, Indian
constitution is binding all Indians together and makes this country as united.
From Yogesh Gogwekar
India is a country full of many diversities, particularly religious
diversity and Language diversity. Therefore, it was very difficult task to make
this country as one country which is having multiple religions, multiple
languages and different cultures. It was interesting political experiment in
human history. All credit goes to our nationalist leaders who fought to
liberate this country with its ethos and methods and made this country as a
Republic by adopting parliamentary style of democracy. Today, India is a
democratic country but most vibrant democracy country. According to
Robert Blackwill, US Ambassador to India in 2003, 'India is a pluralist country
that creates magic with democracy, rule of law & individual freedom, community
relations & cultural diversity. What is the place to be an intellectual...I
wouldn't mind being born ten times to rediscover India’.
Mohandas K Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was a thinker,
genius, man of action and having organising capacity. He converted congress
from three days conference to mass movement and organised congress on
linguistic basis and brought all Indians under the one umbrella of Congress. He
promised Indians that independent India would have linguistic states
where each Indian can select the language of education as per his choice. He
introduced non-violence which means issues and problems can be sorted out
through discussion and debate which is nothing but Parliamentary
democracy. He tried to bring communal harmony through Hindu Muslim unity.
He was great supporter of abolition of untouchability & removal of gender
inequality. He did not allow having single language as official language of
independent India. He did not allow India to become mirror image of Pakistan.
All his ideas have been reflected in Constitution of India and leaders of independent
movement i.e. from Congress and Socialist successfully championed the vision of
modern India based on progressive values and didn’t let the country succumb to
communalism.
Another personality who was wise democrat and a person who piloted this
Constitution through constitution Assembly was lifelong opponent of congress
and Mahatma Gandhi. And this personality is nothing but Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
who was chief architect or maker of our constitution. It is necessary for every
human being to study his life and thoughts even though they belong to different
casts or religions. Through the constitution, he introduced the requirement of
Democratic institutions. According to him, All political parties, social
organisations, public and private sectors, Judiciary, Free Press, Civil
society, hospitals, universities, governments, opposition parties and
Parliament etc. are important democratic institutions. He established
institutional autonomy in all sectors which have been spread also in education
sector where no political leaders will decide who is the head of universities
and research institutions and allow academicians to do select the same as per
the process. He made the laws to remove untouchability and bringing gender
equality. He made our judicial process more transparent and efficient.
At the time of speaking of adopting the constitution, Dr. B R Ambedkar
asks,” we are going to enter into life of contradiction. In Politics, we will
have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In
politics we will be recognising the principle of one person one vote and one
vote one value. In social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social
and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one person one value.
How long shall we continue to live the life of contradiction? Even after 70
years this contradiction is still continuing. He also warned us not to use the
method of Civil disobedience, non-cooperation and Satyagraha moments and use
constitution methods. He also informed us not submit yourself to charismatic
authority which will lead to autocratic type of government. According to him,’
Bhakti in religion may be road to salvation of soul but in politics, Bhakti or
hero worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.
Indian Constitution is significant constitution. It has brought the
transition of India from Colonel Rule to secular and democratic nation which is
binding all India together. That is why person from Kashmir can reach to
Kanyakumari without any hesitation. This is our national book; no other book
can be compared to it.
Now, India is changing and experiencing some changes. Suhas
Palshikar, a great academic and social and political scientist has given
following changes.
a. The overarching dominance of one leader. In this case, we need to
observe in which way India is going to cope with this personality cult.
b. India started following majoritarian version of democracy instead of
secular democracy.
c. Pressure of democracy and nationalism, In this case, one has to choose
either democracy or nationalism. In this case, nationalism will have more
important than democracy. According to Palshikar today people might be willing to tweak the
democracy for the purpose of nationalism and national interest.
After reading these changes, one can look at warning given by Dr.
Ambedkar regarding the constitutional republic democracy. Whether our
constitution can accept these challenges or not?. Only time can tell us.
Date
25/01/2020
Comments
Post a Comment