November 26 – Constitution Day

 

November 26 – Constitution Day

We observe November 26 as the Constitution Day, the day on which our Constitution was finally “adopted, enacted and given to ourselves’ by the Constituent Assembly in 1949. The Constitution Day is an important milestone in the journey of India which “We the people of India” embarked on with Independence from the British colonial rule on 15 August, 1947 which is observed as the Independence Day. The new Constitution came into operation on January 26, 1950 which we observe as the Republic Day. Long seven

decades have passed ever since we had a robust constitutional frame work given to us by our founding fathers to redeem our pledge of ‘tryst with destiny’ as visualized by PM Jawaharlal Nehru in his Independence Day address to the nation on the midnight of August 14, 1947. The Objectives Resolution of the Constituent Assembly to make the constitution and above all the role and contribution of Babasaheb B.R. Ambedkar as Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly could deliver in giving us one of the best constitutions of the world which met the challenges before the country like ‘India that is Bharat’ - a diversified and multi racial and multi-cultural society. It kept us on rails. It is a matter of great satisfaction that, with these constitutional arrangements, India has come a long way in its development and progress. One may say that It has arrived but still to reach. Still a long way to go in this interesting but challenging journey before we fully realize and redeem the solemn pledges which we voluntarily took on our Independence. It could be done ‘substantially’ in the words of PM Jawaharlal Nehru, if we could transform our ‘political democracy, stipulated in the constitution, into a social and economic democracy’ as rightly visualized by none other than the father of the Constitution of India, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.  

As I said that because of the constitution, India is on rails. But we cannot afford the luxury of lowering our guard as yet. Of late, fissiparous elements with divisive agenda appear to be raising their head which is posing a real danger to the very edifice – ‘sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic’ of our polity could come under threat. It would be a serious threat against which Babasaheb Ambedkar spoke very candidly in his last speech in the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949 before the constitution was finally passed. He, referring to historical facts, said, “…not only India has once before lost her independence, but she lost it by the infidelity and treachery of some of her own people.”  In this context, he further said “Will history repeat itself? It is this thought which fills me with anxiety. This anxiety is deepened by the realization of the fact that in addition to our old enemies in the form of castes and creeds we are going to have many political parties with diverse and opposing political creeds. Will Indian place the country above their creed or will they place creed above country? I do not know. But this much is certain that if the parties place creed above country, our independence will be put in jeopardy a second time and probably be lost forever. This eventuality we must all resolutely guard against. We must be determined to defend our independence with the last drop of our blood.”  Dr. Ambedkar was a visionary. His warnings, given 70 years ago, are as true and relevant as these were then, if we

look at the Kisan Andolan, many movements opposing the duly formulated administration through violence and unconstitutional means resulting in ‘Grammar of Anarchy’ as cautioned by him, “If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but also in fact, what must we do? The first thing in my judgment we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives. It means we must abandon the bloody methods of revolution. It means that we must abandon the method of civil disobedience, non-cooperation and satyagraha. When there was no way left for constitutional methods for achieving economic and social objectives, there was a great deal of justification for unconstitutional methods. But where constitutional methods are open, there can be no justification for these unconstitutional methods. These methods are nothing but the Grammar of Anarchy and the sooner they are abandoned, the better for us.” I am not oblivious of the fact that I have succumbed to the temptation of quoting Dr. Ambedkar excessively to make my point. But it made my job easy as the utterances coming from the horse’s mouth are gems of wisdom which we would ignore at our own peril. The third thing he warned against was ‘hero worship’ in democracy and said, ““There is nothing wrong in being grateful to great men who have rendered life-long services to the country. But there are limits to gratefulness, as has been well said by the Irish Patriot Daniel O’Connell, no man can be grateful at the cost of his honour, no woman can be grateful at the cost of her chastity and no nation can be grateful at the cost of its liberty. This caution is far more necessary in the case of India than in the case of any other country. For in India, Bhakti or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship, plays a part in its politics unequalled in magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of any other country in the world. Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul. But in politics, Bhakti or hero- worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.”

While we observe the Constitution Day, we must do self-introspection, keeping the above warnings of the chief architect of the constitution, if we intend to remain on track. My humble suggestion in this regard is that the epoch making November 25, 1949 speech of Babasaheb Ambedkar should be included in college curricula for students so that younger generation understands the constitution and challenges before the country. Our political parties and politicians should learn and understand the situation in its right perspective rather than pursuing narrow agendas for short term gains.

With this while I take this opportunity to greet my countrymen on the Constitution Day of India, I would recall the poetic warning of Allma Iqbal:

Chupa Kar Asteen Mein Bijliyan Rakhi Hain Gardoon Ne
Anadil Bagh Ke Ghafil Na Baithen Ashiyon Mein

(The sky has kept thunderbolts concealed up its sleeve
Garden’s nightingales should not slumber in their nests)