As India celebrates the 75th year of the adoption of its Constitution, it’s imperative to reflect on how this document has been at the very heart of our nation’s journey.
The idea of India, from the ancient Bharatvarsha to the modern Republic of India, has been the bedrock of all institutions that have thrived in this land. The Constitution of India is what has kept that idea alive, while adapting to the modern socio-economic demands of prevailing geopolitics. This living document has been at the helm of uniting the country even during the lowest of all lows, and preserving the high character of the nation as history has known it.
As India celebrates the 75th year of the adoption of its Constitution, it’s imperative to reflect on how a 251-page document has been at the very heart of our nation’s journey. Humanity in its evolution has always revered and adopted a written set of norms for defining, preserving and regulating the collective aspirations and conduct of society. Billions around the globe seek moral guidance from sacred books. Documents like the Magna Carta continue to underscore the quest for justice, liberty and rights. Drawing from the same idea, Bharatiya Samvidhaan continues to be our guiding light in our journey towards a better future.
The Constitution of the Republic of India, at its core, establishes India as a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic. It enshrines fundamental rights, including the right to equality, freedom, and protection against exploitation, forming the bedrock of civil liberties. Complementing these are the Directive Principles of State Policy, which, though not justiciable, provide a roadmap for socio-economic justice.
The late Lord Bingham perceptively wrote on the UK’s unwritten Constitution that “constitutionally speaking, we now find ourselves in a trackless desert without map or compass.” This is precisely the problem that codification addresses. When a Constitution is codified, we know what it says. Each organ of the state—the legislature, the executive and the judiciary—has a clearer idea of the breadth of its powers. The relations these organs have with each other and with citizens are more easily discernible.
Written Constitutions can also inform the public. With one document to refer to, people are more likely to know what can and cannot be done or how they might be dealt with. Being able to point to a Constitution and assert its values is empowering. The most significant advantage of a written Constitution is its benefits to the citizen. Modern written Constitutions are an embodiment of the contract citizens enter with their government. They agree to be governed in exchange for certain assurances. Principal among these is always that their freedoms will be protected and their equality guaranteed. Rights guaranteed by a written Constitution are usually beyond Parliament’s power to amend with a simple majority. Individuals and minority groups are thus protected from majoritarian and populist influences.
The Indian Constitution hosts several salient features that have enabled it to withstand the challenging demands of this nation of 1.4 billion people. It adopted a federal structure with a strong central bias, striking a balance between national unity and regional autonomy, and delineated the distribution of powers between the Union and States, with residuary powers vesting in the Centre. This federal framework is further strengthened by provisions of Inter-State Councils and cooperative federalism. A parliamentary form of government, inspired by the Westminster model, is established at both Union and State levels, with the judiciary having been accorded a position of eminence, and with the Supreme Court as the guardian of the Constitution. The principle of judicial review, meanwhile, empowers the courts to scrutinize legislative and executive actions, ensuring adherence to constitutional norms. The Directive Principles of State Policy, on the other hand, aim towards directing the Government towards policymaking to ensure a holistic development and welfare of the people.
Notable features also include the provision of a single citizenship, universal adult suffrage, and special protections for the marginalized communities. The Constitution also incorporates emergency provisions to deal with extraordinary situations threatening national security or constitutional machinery. Importantly, the document is neither rigid nor flexible in its entirety. While some provisions can be amended by a simple majority in Parliament, others require a special majority and ratification by state legislatures, ensuring a delicate balance between stability and adaptability. In essence, the Indian Constitution serves as a living document, continually evolving through amendments and judicial interpretations, yet steadfast in its commitment to democracy, social justice, and the rule of law.
One of the most significant provisions of the Indian Constitution is Article 356. During the finalization of the text of the Constitution, this provision had attracted notice and debate but the Chairman of the Drafting Committee, Dr B.R. Ambedkar had opined that the provision was meant to be used only in the “rarest of the rare cases”. Even though Dr Ambedkar had believed that it would remain a dead letter, Article 356 has been used/misused more than 125 times. In almost all cases it was used for political considerations rather than any genuine breakdown of constitutional machinery in the states. The late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi used Article 356 as many as 27 times, and in most cases to remove majority governments on grounds of political instability, absence of a clear mandate, withdrawal of support, etc.
We already have glaring examples from our neighbourhood on how often a Constitution has been made helpless in the wake of an overarching institution exerting its force onto the larger population. The recent case of South Korea where the President tried to impose martial law is also reflective of the comparative strength of the Indian Constitution, which has been nurtured to keep an adequate check on the powers of all the three organs of state. As late US President James Madison described it, “The purpose of the Constitution is to restrict the majority’s ability to harm a minority”, something which the Indian Constitution has always ensured—that every section of society finds a voice in this land.
Our Hon’ble Prime Minister has also been at the forefront of promoting the ideals espoused by our Constitution. He even touched his forehead to a copy of the Constitution to signify how highly he venerates it and expressed that every moment of his life is dedicated towards upholding the noble values enshrined in it. This came amidst an avalanche of baseless allegations of undermining the Constitution. It is to be kept in mind that it was only under his visionary leadership that we saw the abrogation of the draconian Article 370, which had condemned many communities in the state of Jammu and Kashmir to be second-class citizens, and the enactment of the historic Women’s Reservation Bill which finally addressed the pressing issue of female representation in the apex legislative body of our nation. The current government also took into consideration the plight of the religious minorities from our neighbouring countries and implemented the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019, to provide the persecuted communities with a fast-track to Indian citizenship.
It is noteworthy that India, despite its frailty in the nascent stages as a republic, always recorded a peaceful transfer of power from one government to another. Despite the western media’s malicious campaign to distort our image on the global stage, we have had our Constitution guiding our nation through its highs and lows and unifying the country as one entity. The Constitution, for the past 75 years, has been the epitome of our republicanism and the antithesis to any totalitarian tendencies from either side of the political spectrum. We, as a nation, must forever remain indebted to the greatness of Babasaheb Ambedkar for bestowing us with not just the world’s longest written Constitution, but one which encapsulates the idea of India—which is greater than the sums of all its constituents and expresses itself as a walking representation and celebration of humanity and civility.
