#dnaEdit: Republican ideals

Notwithstanding the criticism of some well-meaning people, January 26 remains — for better or worse — a day of the magnificent parade on Rajpath, the straight road connecting Rashtrapati Bhavan with India Gate. The parade is a display of India’s military muscle as well its kaleidoscopic culture. The presence of the chief guest, the United States President Barack Obama this time is a minor adornment to the stately ceremony. Though called the Republic Day, no one, not even the supposedly thinking elite, spare a thought about what these republican ideals are. Some of us believe that the Preamble to the Constitution of India, adopted on November 26, 1949, and coming into effect on January 26, represented the republic’s ideals: “…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…” Even without routinely and publicly brandishing these values, India has managed to translate the principles of the unamended Preamble in the everyday life of the people. There are shortcomings, there are distortions. But we did not abandon them.

It has, however, become a necessity to reiterate these ideals and conduct a public discourse around them at a time the country is on the verge of becoming a vibrant economy, present-day challenges and crises notwithstanding. What makes the nation vibrant is not its successful economy nor its military feats, but the ideals that it swears to uphold. There is a tendency among the right-wing as well as liberal politicians to emphasise the “shining India” of economic growth. It is a wonderful achievement but what will keep this economy sustainable are those commitments mentioned unambiguously in the Preamble. When the economy or the politics of the day negates those ideals, the nation will be endangered.

The extremist voices — whether those of the Hindutva brigade, the Maoists or the jihadists — can be heard in an open society like that of India, but what will challenge their ideology is not just punitive laws but the republican spirit embodied in the Preamble. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and many other BJP politicians are fond of saying that the Constitution is their scripture and there is nothing else. It’d difficult to ignore the danger of such statements. The Constitution is not a sacred document and it is valuable because it is not sacred. The Preamble clearly and eloquently states the rules of a liberal polity, allowing multiple views and religions to coexist. It lays down the ground rules of pluralism and enables religions and ideologies to compete with each other without each becoming a domineering and dictatorial force in itself. The Constitution allows for sacredness of many kinds without claiming any divinity for itself. That is why it is the right framework for our free polity.

There were two moments in the life of the Constitution, when the governments of the day tried to push back its validity. The first time was during the heyday of Indira Gandhi’s authoritarian populism from 1971 to 1977. The Emergency was imposed in 1975, the 25th year of the Republic, and in 1976 the 42nd Amendment was passed, including the amendment of the Preamble, and the introduction of the Fundamental Duties. It was the most illiberal attack on the Constitution. The next attack on the Constitution — though muted in comparison to Emergency — was mounted during the rule of the BJP-led NDA, when a commission was set up to review the working of the Constitution headed by former chief justice M Venkatachalaiah. Fortunately it came to nothing. The need of the hour is encapsulated in the old adage: eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.