The pot calling the kettle black

It has become a fashion for some political parties to talk of protecting the Constitution. It’s easy to try to be brazen on the floor of Lok Sabha and wave the copy of Constitution. But to be a real protector, one should have the courage to condemn something that is wrong and goes against Constitution even if the perpetrators are their family members. They should understand that the original Constitution is not just a list or compilation of articles. It is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, and determines how that entity is to be governed. It is high time all politicians read, understand and follow what the Constitution says and stop interpreting it as they like

A lot of noise has been made about the Constitution of India and “who is the destroyer and who is the protector?” A lot of drama had also taken place during the election campaign where INDIA bloc led by Rahul Gandhi had been holding a copy of Constitution and claiming to be the custodians of it. They gave a repeat performance of it during oath taking in Parliament.

The drama continued even when Rahul Gandhi made his maiden speech as Leader of Opposition. He went on referring to the Constitution and made several references to Hinduism in the context of the BJP, displayed the picture of Lord Shiva and made certain comments which were rightly expunged from the records by the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

Rahul Gandhi and his bloc defended his remarks on the Hindu society, saying that they related to BJP which according to them is a violent group and not entirely a Hindu society. There were 14 cuts from his original speech in Parliament.

Sometimes I wonder whether the politicians (Unfortunately I can’t call most of them as leaders), who are making so much of noise, can explain in one word what the Constitution is and how many pages it contains and what exactly is its purpose. I am sure many would fumble. I even doubt if they can answer what the Constitution Day is.

Criticism of government is good but political leaders particularly those in opposition claiming to be defenders of Constitution sounds jarring to the ear. Was it not this very Congress party which had suspended civil liberties and violated human rights for 21 months just because the Allahabad High Court on June 12 1975 declared Indira Gandhi guilty of electoral malpractices and she was debarred from holding any elected post and was disqualified from the Parliament?

Indira Gandhi was banned for six years from holding any elected post. Enraged by this, she declared Emergency using Article 352 of the Constitution just to cling on to power. The then Congress government had turned the nation into a jail. Her very first words which were continuously blared on the All India Radio then were, “There is nothing to panic about. Emergency is to control internal disturbance,” for which the constitutional rights were suspended and freedom of speech and press withdrawn, the government said.

She justified Emergency saying that there was a danger to country’s security due the movement launched by Jayaprakash Narayan who spearheaded a campaign against corruption and to change the face of Indian polity. She claimed the drastic measure was in national interest, primarily based on three grounds. First, she said India’s security and democracy was in danger owing to the movement launched by Jayaprakash Narayan. Second, she was of the opinion that there was a need for rapid economic development and uplift of the underprivileged.

Anyone who disagreed with the party was tortured and harassed. Press was heavily censored. I still remember the mental stress that the first censorship officer of Press Information Bureau (who incidentally happened to be my father) had to undergo that night. All newspapers were supposed to submit their pages for clearance by him which was an impossible task and no newspaper had gone for print in time. In fact, that was what Indira Gandhi, perhaps, wanted.

All colleges of Delhi University were under scanner and students were put under close observation. I had seen how they including me were closely followed by sleuths even if they had risen their voice demanding bus facility to the college and were marked as anti-government.

Indira Gandhi later regretted the excesses during this period on January 24, 1978 while speaking at a meeting in Yavatmal. Even Rahul Gandhi whom Modi calls ‘Yuvraj’ offered apologies for the excesses committed during the Emergency on behalf of his party. But then it cannot erase the scars of excesses all had to suffer during that period. It was the most shameful assault on the Constitution of India.

What happened to the Constitution when in 1984 anti-Sikh riots took place? It was the worst kind of violence I had ever seen. People were burnt alive. Again there were apologies from Congress party including Sonia Gandhi. Was it not the Congress regime during which large-scale forceful family planning operations took place? Still the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi claim they are protectors of Constitution.

AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge recently said why talk about something that happened four decades back. Why not? Those who claim to be protectors of Constitution cannot escape their past deeds.

For the satisfaction of those who do not want to talk of Emergency, let me ask them why they closed the doors of Parliament, pushed the media out, disconnected power and removed live telecast of proceedings of the Parliament to pass the AP State Re-organisation Bill in 2014 to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh?

Why didn’t the Congress and the bloc INDIA members oppose the comments made by one of their member parties, DMK, on Sanatana Dharma during the 2023 election campaign? Was it not spreading hatred against the belief of the major sections of the society? Does the Constitution permit that?

It’s easy to try to be brazen on the floor of Lok Sabha and wave the copy of Constitution. But to be a real protector, one should have the courage to condemn something that is wrong and goes against Constitution even if the perpetrators are their family members. They should understand that the original Constitution is not just a list or compilation of articles. It is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, and determines how that entity is to be governed.

The original Constitution is 22 inches long and 16 inches wide. It was written on sheets of parchment and its manuscript consists of 251 pages. It took 2 years 11 months and 18 days to prepare the Constitution. No one has the right to make a mockery of it by waving it wherever they like without being serious of implementing it.

We have also seen BRS working president K T Rama Rao who two days back asked Rahul why the Congress did not ask the turncoats to resign before joining Congress and whether that was the way they would protect the Constitution. A good question. But what did BRS do when in power? They cannot justify saying the entire legislature party merged with BRS. Today, when some BRS MLAs quit and joined Congress, the party is knocking on the doors of courts seeking a direction that the Speaker disqualify the turncoats. But during their regime, the then Speaker was never pressured to do so when the opposition wrote several letters to the Speaker. The Constitution is not something that can be interpreted to suit one’s political maneuverings.

The Constitution gives people the power of votes. Whether a party wins or loses, they should respect the verdict of the people. But the present political parties whether it is regional or national are unable to digest defeat. We have seen how the YSRCP which lost power just 20 days back was claiming that the countdown for the alliance government had begun.

Similar statements are being heard from BRS chief KCR. Both KCR and Jagan claim they will be in power for 15 years. But the Constitution has fixed only 5 year tenure for any government. They can continue to be in power if they enjoy people’s mandate.

It has become a fashion for some parties to fix their tenure in power. That goes against the spirit of Constitution. So, it is high time the politicians read, understand and follow what the Constitution says and stop interpreting it as they like.