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New Constitution for Bharat ?

 Dt:  26/3/24

 

New Constitution for Bharat  ?

 

Dr T  .H. Chowdary*

 

 

Sri Ananta Kumar Hegde Minister  in  Sri Modi’s cabinet  is denied  the BJP ticket for election  to the  Lok Sabha in 2024 for saying  that,  “ there would  be a new constitution for India”.   Is a  publicly expressed thought or view that  Bharat needs  a new constitution  so subversive  as to disqualify  a public figure from contesting for membership of the  Lok Sabha ?

 

 2. Dr Ambedkar  is  extolled and lionized  as the  author of the  Constitution of India.   It is therefore   appropriate  to   recall his views   in this regard.  While speaking  in the Parliament  on Andhra state bill in Oct  1953,  Dr Ambedkar said:  “ Sir,  my friends tell me that I have made the constitution.  But I am  quite prepared to say thatI shall be the first person to burn it out.  I do not want it. It does not  suit anybody. ……”

 

3. While speaking at the last session of the Constituent Assembly  in 1949 he said,  “What I do say is that  the principles embodied  in the Constitution are the views of the  present generation, or  , if you think this to be over statement ,  I say the are the views  of the Constituent Assembly.  …”  He further said, “Jefferson, the great American statesman who played so great  a part in the making of  the American Constitution, has expressed some very weighty views which makers of the Constitution can never afford to  ignore.   In one place, he has said : “ we may consider each generation as a distinct nation , with a right , by the  will of the majority ,  to bind themselves , but none to bind  the successive generation more than the inhabitants  of another  country”…… “The earth belongs not to the dead    but to the living…” ( Pages 97 & 98 : The Makers of Indian Constitution: Myth and Reality  by Seshrao Chawan, published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan  with foreword from Js H R Khanna and  Preface by Dr L M Sanghvi both  distinguished  and eminent jurists  )  

 

 

4. On another occasion Dr Ambedkar observed in the  Constituent  Assembly :  “The workability of a constitution,  is not a matter of  theory.  It is a matter of  sentiment.  A Constitution like clothes must suit as well as  please . If the Constitution does not please, then however perfect it may be  it will not work .  To have a constitution which runs  counter  to the strong sentiments of  a determined section (of people) is to court disaster if not to invite rebellion”.  (Source:  Page 365 ; Pakistan or the Partition of India  of B R Ambedkar)

 

5. When the Zamindari Abolition Acts were thrown out by the  Supreme Court  Article -31 of the  constitution was amended, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru while writing to the  Chief Ministers observed ,  “A Constitution must be  held in respect, but if it ceases to represent  or comes in the way of the spirit of the age or the powerful urges of the  people, then difficulties  and conflicts  arise. It is wise therefore  we have not only stability and  fixity  of  purpose but also a certain flexibility and playability in a  Constitution”.

 

6. The  Constituon of India  has been amended   103 times  since it came into force in Jan 1950.   The constitution of the  US  which is  about 240 years old  has so far been amended  only 26 times.  We are having to amend our Constitution   because  of changing aspirations of the people  in our  increasingly becoming  effective democracy . People’s aspirations  over a wide spectrum  -  economic and social justice , cultural renaissance, minority i.e,  Muslims  resolve   to overwhelm  Hindus   by the votes  of their furiously  increasing population to the detriment of the  interests of the  majority i.e, Hindus. Unfortunately, our Constitution is being increasingly worked to  appease the  Muslim minority. That is why the awakened and imperiled Hindu majority   is wanting  to bring about changes in the  Constitution. Hindus’ detractors, mainly the self-styled “left-liberal-secular”- Muslim-appeasing persons accuse the Hindu intelligentsia  of trying to replace the “Ambedkar Constitution” ( repudiated by Dr Ambedkar himself in 1953) ,  already amended more than hundred times.

 

7. In a paper “ Essential  Amendments to our Constitution” I have  referred to the articles  which  are  facilitating the  anti-Hindu working of the Constitution.  These are Articles - 30, 25,26,27,28 and 51A.  Also the words “ socialist”  and “secular”  in the  preamble  deserve to be omitted as they mean differently to  different people at different times.  The directive Principles in part-IV of  the constitution are sufficiently  socialist  and fundamental rights as proposed to be amended are sufficiently secular.  ( 1,178 words)

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