The Off-track Journey of the Indian Republic

Saddled with the colonial exploitative system of governance, against which the freedom struggle was waged, the republic of India embarked on its journey of rebuilding a battered nation with glorious past. The Constitution which guided and regulated this journey, however, suffered from inner contradictions to start with. While the people of India ‘adopted, enacted and gave to themselves a Constitution' in pursuance of their solemn resolve to constitute India into a ‘sovereign socialist secular democratic republic’, it adopted a system of governance which was designed and used notoriously to exploit a colony to serve the interests of a ‘colonial empire'. With such an instrument, the 'solemn resolve' of the people can hardly be ever achieved. After all, an instrument must be designed and tailored to achieve the purpose it is intended for. It is due to this fundamental intrinsic contradiction that the basic constitutional principles of ‘sovereignty of people', ‘socialistic pattern of society’, ‘secular polity’, ‘democratic governance' and a 'republic character of the nation' have not been carried out in practice, as has been seen in the sixty years of journey of the Indian republic and as have been dealt with and discussed in the previous blog posts titled ‘India's Illusion of Democracy – I and II’ (May 8 and June 8, 2009), ‘Reality of India's Sovereignty’ (July 9, 2009), 'Secularism in the Indian Republic’ ( Aug 9, 2009), ‘What Happened to India's Socialism?’ (Sept. 9, 2009), and ' Is India a True or Ideal Republic?’ (Oct 11, 2009). Apart from these basic declarations of the Constitution and aspirations of the people remaining utterly unfulfilled and even negated in some cases such as in achieving a socialistic pattern of society, the Indian republic has been faced with increasing proportions of various critical problems such as corruption in public life ( see blog post ‘Culture of Corruption in Public Life in Contemporary India’ - Nov. 9, 2009), poverty and economic disparity (see blog post ‘Emergence, Prevalence and Perpetuation of Poverty in India’ – Jan. 9, 2010) and insurgency and other disruptive activities (see blog post ‘Insurgency and Other Disruptive Forces Crippling India’ - Dec. 22, 2009). Overriding all these problems starkly facing the nation, what is really worrisome is the steep decline of political morality in post independence India. Politics has become despicably power-centric. No principle is too sacrosanct to be sacrificed and no alliance is too detestable to be entered into in no-hold barred pursuit of power by the political parties. All kinds of immorality and even criminality have gained respectable or at least acceptable entry into the precincts of modern politics in India. While the British played religious cards in their divide-and-rule policy to retain their colonial hold over the country, the modern day political practitioners have no compunction in using any kind of social, economic, communal or territorial divide to exploit that division to serve their political interests. For them, the people are nothing but vote banks, just like the people are nothing but consumers for contemporary market operators. Both these operators, political as well as market, adopt any stratagem to lure their respective constituencies into serving their ends. While castes, communities or regions may be losing their significance in modern age dominated by science, technology, democracy and market forces, these divides are kept alive in order to exploit them for power-centric politics. Thus, all these problems generated and exacerbated in post- independence India have not only been sapping the vitality of the nation but have also endangered the unity and integrity of the Indian republic.

It is high time to pause and ponder whither India is going and, more importantly, whether the Indian republic is on the right track at all. As all the problems indicated above have been getting worse with time, it is easy to conclude that the republic has not been on the right track and hence it would be too naïve to hope that the things will improve and it would be all right with time. A wrong track can never lead to the right destination. The moot point is when and where did India embark on this wrong track. The journey of free India began on 15 Aug. 1947 and that of the republic of India on 26 Jan. 1950. While the track on which free India, in which power was transferred from London to Delhi, began its journey was set by the terms of transfer of power specified by the British Parliament in its Independence of India Act 1947, that of the republic of India was set by the provisions of the Constitution of India adopted in the name of the people of India by the Constituent Assembly on Nov. 26, 1949. As the Constitution of India adopted the same system of governance as was specified by the British Parliament as terms of transfer of power, i.e. the Govt. of India Act 1935, there was hardly any change of track for the journey of the republic of India from not only that of free India but also from that of colonial India since 1935. Of course, there were a few ceremonial changes brought about by the Constitution, like India being declared as a “sovereign, socialist secular democratic republic” and a British–pattern parliamentary democracy based on universal adult suffrage was set up. Due to adoption of the colonial system of governance, which is grossly incompatible with the aspirations of the people, declarations of the Constitution itself, however, have remained largely ornamental, creating illusions with no substance, as indicated and discussed earlier. And very often, illusions are more pernicious than express denial. One may wonder how the colonial system of governance, against which our very freedom struggle was waged under the inspiring leadership and guidance of Mahatma Gandhi, intruded into the Constitution of the republic of India. This has been discussed in the previous blog post titled, “Analysis of Politico-Economic Situation of India - How the Indian Republic went Off-Track”. It will be found that freedom brought about by sacrifices of millions of people inspired by the beacon call of Gandhi based on his authentic vision of free India was hijacked by the vested interest groups of Indians and vestiges of the colonial empire who were beneficiaries of the colonial system of governance. This hijacking was adroitly accomplished by inoculating the otherwise modern sounding constitution with the virus of colonial system of governance.

Thus it is clear that unless the Indian republic changes its track of journey, its process of degeneration will not come to an end and the myriad problems afflicting it will never be resolved. After an experience of sixty years of the republic’s journey, it will be simply living in a fool’s paradise to expect it otherwise. Even any mid-course correction on the existing track will not do. What the Indian republic needs is the change of its track of journey by ridding our Constitution of this virus and replacing it with really democratic governance where sovereignty of the nation will in reality lie with the people. Brought to health and vigor by this change of track, its journey will gain a positive momentum which will ensure redeeming its pledge of its long cherished ‘tryst with destiny’ for a nation having an uninterrupted thousands of years of culture, resources, and genius.

Today India has completed 63 years of its existence as a ‘free nation’. The enthusiasm and exuberance witnessed this day in 1947 were inspired by hopes and aspirations of the long suppressed and suffering masses of India. These hopes and aspirations were kept alive by the declarations and speeches made from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi and the rostrums in the state capitals. One can, however, clearly discern that they have been getting dimmed over the years, culminating into disillusionments and frustrations today. Enthusiasm and exuberance on these occasions have given way to indifference and even antipathy, turning these solemn public occasions into mere state rituals. Over the years, India has degenerated unabatedly, manifesting in myriad problems afflicting its body politic which have been defying all our efforts to tackle them.

Let us resolve today to rid India of the debilitating virus of the colonial system of governance, to bring health and vigour to a nation which is the inheritor of an excellent culture and reclaim the exuberance of real freedom befitting this day. What is the right track for such a free India, how to mount it and what will be a realistic vision of the journey on it will be dealt with in a follow up new Blog series.