The Constitution of India was adopted on 26th November 1949 and came into effect on 26th January 1950.
It is of course with great pride that the whole of India celebrates this important day as a massive step forward to freedom from the tyranny and enslavement by the British (and hundreds of years by the Islamic invaders).
Lest you have not read the constitution (that will be 99% of us I guess) the first lines state:
WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic, and political.
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith, and worship.
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation.
Did you know that on 18th December 1976, during the Emergency in India, the Indira Gandhi government pushed through several changes in the Forty-second Amendment of the constitution? The amendment inserted the words "socialist" and "secular" between the words "Sovereign" and "democratic".
One can understand why India had to be sovereign, but to insert ‘socialist’, regardless of their intentions at the time, shows that there was an undercurrent of a narrative by those in power to align the nation to a particular mindset and ideology.
One can understand why ‘secular’ was inserted, but again, we must not only question but also understand why those in power felt that ‘secular’ was needed in the constitution of a nation that has historically been of Dharmic traditions for thousands of years. It gives us an insight not only into the mindset of those who championed these words, but also the hand of the ‘silent’ external power that still wanted to control the Indian narrative.
The Constitution declares loudly, ‘Justice’ for all. Yet in the decades that followed Indian Governments (Congress Party led by the Gandhi’s) created legislation that gave some states more power and greater exemptions from the laws that applied to the whole nation. Case in question, Kashmir where articles such as 370 were created to appease to the anti-nationals and to the Pakistani extremists across the border. For the first time since India secured its Independence, we now have a government and a Prime Minister who is working to establish a Uniform Civil Code. Think about it, 72 years have passed, and India is finally getting round to giving ‘Justice for all’ an opportunity to come alive.
The term ‘Equality’ is also used, yet let us all acknowledge, India is a mess when it comes to it. Under the guise of ‘equality’ India has created hundreds, if not thousands, of special categories to give some communities, some groups, some faith, special exemptions and the reward of access to money, power and privilege. India has blindly followed the Caste classification first introduced by the British (yes you read that correctly, caste is NOT Indian in origin). It has allowed some faiths grotesque exemptions to appease to their extremism. It has looted Trillions of Rupees from Hindu Mandirs whilst giving total freedom to other faiths. How can you even begin to discuss equality when there exists this wholesale violation of the constitution by the state itself?
I am sure Prime Minister Modi is more than aware of all of the above, and more besides. Let the torch that Swami Vivekanandaji lit of, ‘Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached’, be the mantra that our Prime Minister chants and champions every day. Jai Hind.
