The Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution on 26 November 1949. On its completion of 75 years, a long debate was also held in the Indian Parliament in November, during which a comment by Union Home Minister Amit Shah became a matter of controversy.
The longest-written constitution in the world, which includes the rights, and duties of citizens, and provisions necessary to improve their lives.
So far, the Constitution has been amended more than 100 times. Different provisions of the Constitution have been a topic of discussion in the country from time to time.
An important milestone in this in recent times is the general elections held last year, where the issue of changing the Constitution to abolishing it arose as an election issue, and many election analysts believed that the Bharatiya Janata Party could not get an absolute majority on its own due to that issue.
So now that programs are being held across the country on the 75th anniversary of the Constitution, we will also try to understand the role of the Constitution in the development of the country, in subjects like social justice, education, awareness, economic development, religious freedom, freedom of expression.
Along with this, there will be an attempt to know and understand the challenges that are emerging with the development of technology.
Assistant Professor of Delhi University Aditi Narayani Paswan, Associate Professor Ravikant of Lucknow University, and Loksatta Editor Girish Kuber participated in this discussion.
What did we get from the Constitution in 75 years?
Assistant Professor of Delhi University Aditi Narayani Paswan said, “For us, the Constitution means our identity.”
She said, “The Constitution has given us facilities but it has ensured that there is equality and inclusiveness in those facilities.”
He further said, “Constitution for all means abolition of untouchability. Constitution for all of us means equality of opportunity and the Constitution is a reservation for all of us, due to which today we can hear the voice of all backward, educationally backward or socially backward communities.”
On this, Loksatta editor Girish Kuber said, “If you look at the history of Indian culture, there was a lot of hero worship in it, kings and maharajas were important. Whatever has happened to establish constitutional democracy and functional democracy, it has all happened because of the Constitution.”
He further said, “If there was no Constitution, there would not have been much difference between India before the British period and India today.”
Associate Professor of Lucknow University Ravikant said, “For crores of Dalits, women, and deprived people of India, the Constitution gives them civil rights.”
He further said, “The way democracy has developed in these 75 years, it is visible that the participation of Dalits, backward classes, and women has increased. The country which earlier used to run based on rituals and religious texts, now runs based on a book of the Constitution, which has equality, justice, fraternity, and humanity.”
Reservation on an economic basis
Economically Weaker Section (EWS) is a category identified by the Government of India for those individuals and families whose income and assets are below a certain limit.
This class includes those socially and economically backward people who are above the poverty line, but are still not economically strong.
In today’s time, when there is talk of economic-based reservation and the issue of more deprived people in the Dalit category is also being raised, has the Constitution addressed the aspect of social inequality properly or does it need further improvement?
On this, Aditi Narayani Paswan said, “As far as the economically weaker section is concerned, I am grateful that EWS (economically weaker section) came because now the stigma of having to prove whether I am eligible or not has been removed.”
She said, “Because if you talk to common people, people always ask you whether you are from the reservation, meaning if you are not in the 90 percent, then you are in the 70 percent. Now those who were asking questions have also come under EWS.”
She further said, “If there is sub-classification, then it will weaken the dialogue of Dalits because only in the last few decades the contribution of Dalits has been able to find a place in the national discourse. Now if you bring sub-classification in it, then a conflict will start among us.”
Politics on the Constitution
Politics on the Constitution is a sensitive and complex issue, which has been a part of the country’s politics and social discussion from time to time. Various political parties often talk about protecting the Constitution and promise to protect it.
The issue of the Constitution is especially raised during elections. In the recently held Lok Sabha elections too, issues related to the Constitution were prominently discussed.
On this, Professor Ravikant said, “I think that when there are castes in this country, there will also be caste politics, and there will also be talk of caste consciousness and identity.”
He further said, “As far as reservation is concerned, reservation is not a charity nor is it a poverty eradication program. The two main reasons behind it were educational and social backwardness. Firstly, by implementing EWS (economically weaker section), work has been done against the Constitution, and secondly, it is a matter of classification, which is questioned somewhere.”
Ravikant said, “Kanshi Ram ji created awareness among castes, created their icons, created self-respect and self-respect among them and tried to create Bahujan unity, which was an important reason for India’s democratic and constitutional system. But the attack of Hindutva that happened after that tried to destroy the identity of those castes.”
On this, Girish Kuber said, “After the election results, schemes like Ladli Behna were being discussed, but there was one important thing that was ignored by a lot of national media and that was sub-classification. Due to this, the political environment changed completely.”
He further said, “If the talk of eliminating caste was really in the direction of equality, then it would have been easy to accept it. But the issue of caste created a political challenge, which has been covered up by religion.”
Girish said, “Now if problems have started arising in religion also, then something else has to be done. I find this a big challenge and unfortunately, I do not think that the Dalit leadership is realizing this challenge.”
Awareness among people about the Constitution
Awareness among people about the Constitution is an important issue, which becomes a topic of discussion from time to time. Although people in India have an increased understanding of the importance of the Constitution, but lack of information about it is still seen at the ground level.
Especially in rural areas, where people have less knowledge about the fundamental rights and duties of the Constitution.
Aditi said, “Even now people have less knowledge about topics like fundamental duties, and fundamental rights at the ground level. I think we should use social media in such a way that information about every aspect of the Constitution reaches people.”
She said, “When you have not got a reservation at the economic level, then you cannot remove the reservation because now our fight is not for the economic condition, our fight is for our dignity.”
“If this were the case, even today an IPS officer would not need police protection to ride a mare.”
She further said, “The issue of a woman from the rest of the society and a woman from the Dalit society is different. The issue of a man from the rest of the society and a Dalit man is different. Both may be the same economically and politically, but there is a generational trauma regarding identity, which builds self-confidence. Even today, people of our society have not been able to say that ‘I come from this society’.”
Aditi says, “I don’t think that whatever was the ultimate goal of reservation, it has been achieved.”
Role of the judiciary and social media regarding the Constitution
The role of the judiciary and media regarding the Constitution is very important because both act as pillars of democracy and play an important role in protecting the rights of citizens. In this context, the role of social media also becomes important.
On this, Associate Professor of Lucknow University Ravikant said, “Our constitution gives freedom of speech to everyone, but there are some restrictions in it as to what you can say and how much you can say.” Ravikant said, “We often see on social media that sometimes people do not take care of those restrictions, and due to that anger has also been created in the society and some damage has also been done. But many people, where they did not get the opportunity, have got that opportunity through social media.”
“I think that both freedom of expression and social media are proving to be very important for the personality development of people, but sometimes it is also creating challenges, such as fake news, etc.” He said, “In the last few years, we have seen that four judges of the Supreme Court themselves come out and say that there is pressure on them and they are not being allowed to work.” “Then we saw some decisions and after the decisions, if we see the appointment of those judges, where they are going, then somewhere or the other, questions are being raised on the judiciary.”
He further said, “If the Supreme Court wants today, then such news will not be shown like there is a chip in the two thousand rupee note. All this nonsense news will end. I feel that the activism which is expected and which the Constitution expects from it is not visible in the Supreme Court.”
“If we see that last speech of Baba Saheb Ambedkar, then the warnings he gave in it, I feel they are visible today.”
On this, Aditi Narayani Paswan said, “Every citizen in our country has great faith in the Supreme Court or the High Court and whenever they have felt that any of their rights or duties have been threatened, the Supreme Court has always made an appropriate intervention.”
Aditi said, “Now many such pages are coming on social media which are questioning the mainstream narrative and raising the question of what is mainstream.”
She said, “I teach children and they come to know the meaning of politics, secularism, sovereignty, and republic from Instagram only.”
On this, Loksatta editor Girish Kuber said, “How are we better than Pakistan, how are we better than Bangladesh, this is fine, but where do we stand in comparison to the countries that run based on real constitutional democracy?”
“I completely agree that the constitutional spirit which should be in a country has not yet been there in us.”
Girish said, “If I want to blame anyone the most, it is the media. I don’t think we are doing it properly. We are failing, we are failing the Constitution. The media has many responsibilities, but it is not doing it.”
He said, “I believe journalism should also be accountable, why not bring RTI (Right to Information) under journalism?”
He said, “The society which should consider us responsible should hold us accountable, but that society is not doing it.”
