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| Edited By: |Source: DNA webdesk |Updated: Dec 05, 2015, 11:06 AM IST
It was a good decision on the part of the NDA government to mark November 26 as the Constitution Day. It was on November 26, 1949, that the country’s basic document was adopted. Through all the political, economic and social crises that the country has faced since Independence, it is the Constitution that can be said to have served as the lode star and held the polity together. The constitutional framework has served the nation so well that we take it for granted. Excepting for the brief interlude of Emergency, the citizens of this country had enjoyed the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Constitution. The free market economy that has been ushered in through the reforms process of 1991 has been a success because it has been backed by the liberal political set up, and this is entirely due to the Constitution.
India is still not a developed country though it aspires — and rightly so — to be one. A third of the country lives in unacceptable poverty. Even those who have risen above the official poverty line are not sure that they will not lapse into the state of misery once again. Literacy rates have improved but education still remains a distant dream. There is a fierce desire to achieve success and lead a dignified life. Not everyone wants to sprawl in affluence. But it remains a long and difficult road to traverse. But hope burns bright. Most Indians of all economic strata in 2015 not only believe that they have a right to dream but they are quite sure of making those dreams a reality. This positive spirit stems from our democratic set up. The Constitution is the sheet-anchor of Indian democracy. India is one of the few countries in Asia and Africa which has been a successful democracy where many have failed. It is because of this political foundation that its economic success has firm roots and it has not turned into a banana republic.
There are inequalities and injustices aplenty still plaguing the country, but what offers hope is the constitutional assurance of “Justice — social, economic and political”, “Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship”, “Equality of status and opportunity”. A large number of people may not know these words in the Preamble to the Constitution, but they have absorbed the sentiment underlying them. No political party or leader can afford to ignore the basic tenets of the Constitution.
The question whether the Constitution made in the middle of the last century can guide the country when it is heading towards the middle of another century seems superfluous. Indian democracy and the Constitution have weathered storms in the past and they remain seaworthy in the future for the same reason. It will be the beacon light for the future as well because the document expresses well the civilisational strength of India — its diversity rooted in freedom of thought. Unlike many other countries, including the advanced Western democracies, cultural totalitarianism is an impossibility in this country. There might be periods when sanity breaks down and frenzy reigns, and when it would seem that intolerance is the creed of the hour. But it remains a momentary madness. This is the lesson from the past and it should hold good for the future. Theists, atheists, agnostics, liberals, leftists, rightists have no option but to jostle with each other.
The Constitution has worked well for India because it reflects the genius of the nation. It is not a miracle wrought by a few enlightened and intelligent people deliberating in the Constituent Assembly.
