26th January, 2021 is India’s 71st Republic Day. In 1950, this was the day on which the Constitution of India came into effect. The Constitution was written by the Constituent Assembly of India, which had its first meeting on 9th December, 1946. While many of us may be familiar with the Preamble, fundamental rights, directive principles and some of the popular Articles like Article 14(equality before law); it is fascinating that the Indian Constitution has enabled India to become the largest democracy in the world, while several countries who got Independence around the same time, in the 1940s & 1950s have struggled with democracy.
Madhav Khosla’s book – India’s Founding Moment, lays out, that ‘democracy was being instituted in a difficult setting: poor and illiterate; divided by caste, religion, and language; and burdened by centuries of tradition’. It is in these circumstances, that the Constitution was framed. Madhav describes what he calls the ‘founding schema’ of the Constitution in terms of three key aspects:
- Detailed Codification: The Indian Constitution, is often referred to as the world’s longest written constitution. According to Madhav, the Constitution had to play the role of a political teacher to the citizens, because of the circumstances. A striking example of codification is the Directive Principles, that is binding on the government but judicially unenforceable. Also unlike other constitutions, the Constitution guaranteed certain rights like the right to freedom of speech, but also limited such rights.
- Choice of a strong centralized state and rejection of localism: There were a lot of discussion on the nature of the republic – regional autonomy, self-governance at the village level etc. The final decision was for a strong center. It was felt by the framers that localism would prevent individuals to assert their choices as they would be bound by their communities. Though India is technically federal, the power of the center is significantly higher compared to other federal countries.
- Representation centered on individuals: Universal suffrage was adopted in spite of the magnitude of the task of conducting the world’s largest elections. In the US, women got to vote in 1920 almost 140 years after the establishment of the nation. While there was debate in India, about restricting voting based on literacy and wealth, such discussions were rejected. Communal based representation which was prevalent in British ruled India, was also rejected. Today every individual has a vote irrespective of their identity.
As someone who was not born during the framing of the Constitution, I am deeply grateful to the framers, who gave us a Constitution, that has enabled India to make great strides as democracy. Happy Republic Day!
gopaldevanahalli 