Whose Constitution is it anyway
so whose constitution is it anyway
after centuries of being a colony
which was nothing but a glorified form
of slavery
a moment arrived in the life of our
young
yet ancient civilization when we could
say for the first time ever
loud and clear we the people
these three words are as declaratory as
patriotic and
as emotional as they come for these
three words
to be manifested into reality countless
men and women over the centuries have
sacrificed their loved ones
their ambitions their belongings their
careers even their lives
when these words are read or spoken
there is an unwritten unset emotion
an emotion of the pain of the
humiliation
over the years gone by a hope for the
future
a redemption of the past it is an
attempt to heal the wounds of a
civilization a
proud ancient civilization which boasted
of being the land of the vedas
a land of science and mathematics a land
famed as sonic which was impoverished
so much so that it ended up being a
jewel but it’s someone else’s crown
the constitution of india for most of us
indians my friends
is a thick law book with words
that most of us cannot understand cannot
comprehend
sometimes cannot even pronounce either
this book adorns a bookshelf of the
intellectuals or is seen in the
courtrooms or in the offices of us
lawyers
it has nothing to do with how most
indians
understand and how they feel
or know what it means today or meant for
the teeming millions
at the dawn of india becoming a republic
for a start i argue most categorically
that the constitution is not merely a
book and
certainly not merely a law book
yes i agree it is written in a legal
language
yes it was written by the constituent
assembly which had its fair share of
lawyers
and yes we don’t discuss it over our
evening team
but it is and it will remain
a social document written by us
for us whether we believe it or not
the premise of this talk is that in the
next few minutes i will give you a
glimpse of what this constitution holds
for
each one of us i will try and satisfy
each one of you
that this so-called law book is a
reflection of the dreams and aspirations
of the people of india
and that the constitution and every word
written
in it reflects the emotion which makes
india what it
is the emotion of we
the people at the outset let me share
with you an interesting piece of
statistic
as for the data shared by the election
commission of india just before the 2019
lok sabha general election the total
number of registered voters in india
is 900 million which is more than the
collective population of the continents
of europe and australia
another rather shocking piece of
statistics revealed in the census data
of 2011
is that of these 90 crore voters a huge
majority have never ever seen inside of
a college or university
i can reasonably assure you that in the
proportional terms
these stats were not any more
encouraging at the dawn of india
becoming a democratic republic in 1950
than what they are today so if a
churchill would say
india shall be ruled by goons etc based
on statistics
i wouldn’t be surprised and i wouldn’t
be surprised if a
legal book with all the logic and reason
and gray matter thrown behind every word
would have categorically provided
that only the educated amongst us only
they informed amongst us
and only a limited number amongst us
would be able to vote and exercise their
choice by voting in every election
and choose which government must rule us
after all running a nation cannot be
entrusted to an emotional uninformed
decision of the teeming millions
then comes along our constituent
assembly
our emphasis supply our constituent
assembly comes along
our framers of the constitution our own
dr baba cyber media
would decide that every
indian regardless of race religion cash
gender will have the power and the right
to choose
his or her government in a free fair
and timely election every indian will
decide who will run the largest
democracy in the world
every indian will be provided universal
adult suffrage by article 326
of the constitution of india
what but why out came the naysayers
and our founding fathers said why not
what
kind of a sovereign country will that be
which cannot rely
upon and trust the wisdom of the masses
to be able to choose the government
no matter what their level of education
or no matter what the extent of their
information be
a population a nation
an ancient civilization which was
systematically made to lose its
self-respect
and confidence over the years of
colonization deserves
to be respected for its cumulative
wisdom
deserves to be given the responsibility
to bear upon itself the
herculean task of choosing who will run
this massive
democracy of india and more importantly
deserves to be empowered to be able to
see
in their own eyes the gleaming
reflection of a truly
sovereign country remember it is
we the people okay
you might say so we have settled our
scores for the foreign rule
we have claimed our innate right to
choose our own quality we have resolved
to live in the spirit of a sovereign
country
but that’s not the end one might argue
we have many more bones to pick amongst
each other
many more chips on our shoulders related
to the past many more unsettled internal
disputes within
ourselves what about those what does the
constitution offer as a remedy to these
take for instance the perennial issue of
religion and the multitude of disputes
germinated from
and related to it the world and
especially india
has faced more problems more
factionalism
and more disturbances from the
misinterpretation and misuse of religion
than any other conceivable issue
thou shalt not worry said the founding
fathers of our constitution
as a panacea we offer you
secularism
a palpable pause i might say i know you
must be rolling back your eyes
not again you might say yes i know and i
agree
this word secularism is a storm in a tea
cup so to say
in the words of nero in the constituent
assembly and i quote
now i use the words secular democracy
and many others use these words
but sometimes i have the feeling that
these words are used today
too much and by people who do not
understand their significance unquote
but then that is precisely my point
said our doctor baker the word has so
many meanings that are rather not used
at
all in the constitution i’d rather
describe it for you
i will explain the indian brand of
secularism which is
a deviation a far far
long deviation from the western
definition of the word secular
in the west a concept which divorces the
state from the religion
in simple words in the west if the
religion closes it though the state
cannot even peep inside and intervene
no matter what by the way this exclusion
of the state and the religion is
primarily the root of the many problems
and the foggy definition
surrounding this world secular india
shall be secular in spirit it is the
essential character of india to be
secular
the gandhian principle of sarva dharma
runs in our veins we promise to all our
citizens liberty of belief
faith and worship proclaims loud and
clear the preamble of our constitution
we are secular in spirit
that is our brand of secularism our
constitution
lives and breathes secularism you have
the liberty of belief
faith and worship what’s more the
fundamental rights of article 25 26 27
and 28 ensure that these are not
merely player words but guaranteed
legally
enforceable rights which cannot be
violated cannot be abridged
and cannot be contrary so this country
with more religious groups and subgroups
than the combined total of the rest of
the world
remains the republic of india
not a theocratic state but the republic
of india full of belief
faith and worship in the same way
our constitution guarantees equality
before the law
and equal protection of laws in article
it also resolves to rid the society of
the shameful practice of untouchability
by
not only abolishing it but making it a
punishable offense so practice it
as per article 17. article 18 of the
constitution ensures equality by
providing that you cannot be a prince
a raja or nawab or nizam or hold any
other dynastic title
but you can only be granted a title by
the state which you earned with your
merit
your effort or your gallantry my friends
i can go on and on and on whether it is
for the women of a nation
who are marginalized over the centuries
by discrimination in our society
or the millions of workers who were
forced to be bonded and made to work
without money for the toll and
sweat or for the children who are abused
as cheap labor
a constitution protects and cares for
each one of them
and ensures that they are neither
forgotten
not left to be exploited the
constitution directs the state
through directive principles of state
policy that the
mantra underlying the laws made by the
state
and the underlying policies of the
government shall be one
and one only that is the welfare of the
people
india shall be a welfare state proclaims
our constitution and backing these
promises behind these words and the
spirit is the might
of a powerful and independent judiciary
we shall ensure that the constitutional
principles we followed
and its promises be enforced at all
times failing which
the courts will interfere
and declare anything against the
constitution
as null and y over the years we have
seen countless soldiers of law fighting
and guarding the promise against all
odds
whether it was the indomitable nani
palkiwala who
roared in the supreme court defending
the basic structure doctrine or an m.c
mehta who through numerous public
interest litigation paved the way for
environmental reforms in a way
and a scale which was unprecedented
or for that matter a young lady shreya
singal
who fought for and won the battle to
ensure freedom of speech and
expression against ambiguous laws
the fire my friends kindles
the pursuit is still on the caravan
continues but is it all rainbow and
sunshine
certainly not there are many miles of
barren and scorching earth
between us and the promised land dreamt
in the constitution
there are shattered pieces of
constitution itself lying
around us going to the several
amendments which were
so to say not on the same page with the
original vision of our founding fathers
there have been insertions and deletions
in our constitution which threaten the
very subtlety and nuances
of this grand creation the insertion of
the word
secular expressly in a preamble in 1976
is a case in the point there have been
ignored and ischemic parts of the
constitution
like the enforcement of the uniform
civil code which remains still date
for the lack of a better word an
unfulfilled dream
there are many instances of pro-beating
and arm twisting the constitutional
safeguards like the imposition of
national emergency
in 1975 etc etc
etc yes
yes we are lagging far behind in the
race to achieve the dream of the utopian
world which we started out with
yes for many of us the constitution
has become a thick law
book a thick flow book
which is either cited in the courts or
memorized for an exam or even worse used
as a punch line in politics
sad but true but we won’t give up
and we cannot give up
we have promises to keep friends beware
the yesteryears shall question us for
all the sacrifices they were witness to
and hold us accountable for each one of
them i am sure that we will ensure that
those dreams of
india that is bharat were not figments
of imagination
those sacrifices made were not made in
vain
and that the faith that the founding
fathers vested in us
was not misplaced this will be our small
tribute to the numerous sacrifices that
went into the hallowed foundations of a
sovereign india
the first step in this direction is to
own the responsibility to own the
constitution
to make it my constitution our
constitution
and to own that promise that the
founding fathers made
when they said loud and clear
we the people thank you