Even after the Babri Masjid demolition, most Indians did not foresee the assault on the Constitution that has taken place in recent years, especially after 2014
January 26, 1993: I began the day by dialling the old rotary phone and wished a colleague ‘Happy Republic Day’.
To say the least, he was startled. For, citizens wishing each other on ‘R and/or I Days’ was neither a custom then nor a social media-driven rage. Belatedly, he wished me back, but the tone conveyed this was clearly out of courtesy, not conviction.
This has changed dramatically since then and the major part of my morning on the same date in 2025 was spent deleting messages on my mobile, more often than not, containing the same words and images – obviously the word ‘forward’ has a new meaning now.
Laden with fright
Back then, my ‘wishes’ in that first call, which were followed by numerous other similar greetings, over phone and in person, were laden with fright.
Fear was palpable because I was worried about the fate of the ‘text’ that no one then patronisingly called the ’only holy book’, but the majority in the country, including among political parties, considered our moral and political compass.
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Most Indians at that time, even those who did not expend time and energy comprehending the longest written constitution in the world, upheld it for holding the values of our democracy and enshrining the principles of federalism, liberty, equality, fraternity and secularism.
Babri Masjid razing
Back then, it had barely been 50 odd days since the Babri Masjid was demolished. In response, communal riots had broken out almost immediately and were still continuing in various cities and towns across India.
A Hindu majoritarian zealot even tried to hijack an Indian Airlines flight from Lucknow to Delhi days before Republic Day. Among other demands, he asked for the release of leaders and activists arrested for perpetuating religious fanaticism at its worst in Independent India’s history.
Addressing the two Houses of Parliament less than a month after Republic Day, then President Shankar Dayal Sharma began by conceding:
“The most important task before us today is to restore confidence and communal amity, which have been shaken by the tragic events of the 6th of December last year and what followed thereafter. The basic promise of secularism and the rule of law has been threatened.”
Assault on Constitution
Ironically, despite such admission, on the first Republic Day after the Babri Masjid demolition, the majority of Indians did not foresee the kind of assault on the idea of India and its pivotal symbol, the Constitution, which has taken place in recent years, especially after 2014.
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The Constitution was perceived as the ultimate bulwark against communal elements among the majority as well as minority communities. It was believed that despite causing severe breakdown of law and order, sectarian forces would neither be able to gain complete control of state institutions, nor would it possible to tamper with the Constitution.
Yet, the electoral verdicts of 2014 and 2019, followed by events in the subsequent years, made Indians painfully aware that their hopes had been belied.
Hindu rightwing
Sadly, the process of compromising various institutions of the state and hollowing out the Constitution appears to be continual despite ‘hope’ generated by the verdict of the 2024 general elections, in which the BJP was reduced to a low tally, a good 32 short of the majority mark in the Lok Sabha.
It was no secret that the Hindu rightwing forces did not find the Constitution politically palatable when it came into force.
Even when the Constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949, the political fountainheads of today’s BJP leaders were critical of the document and the principles on which it was founded.
Guruji against Constitution
One of the most revered RSS leaders, sarsanghchalak for the longest period till date with a tenure spanning well over four decades, Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, dismissed the Constitution as being “just a cumbersome and heterogeneous piecing together of various articles from various constitutions of Western countries. It has absolutely nothing which can be called our own.”
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Golwalkar also disagreed with one of the primary pillars envisaged for independent and republican India – federalism. He believed that “the most important and effective step (to secure the oneness of our national life) will be to bury deep for good all talk of a federal structure.”
He also wanted “the Constitution be re-examined and re-drafted,” so that a highly centralised government could run the affairs of the nation.
BJP’s political compromises
Numerous other instances can be cited from important writings of this leader, rightly or wrongly called by his moniker, ‘Guruji’, and from the voluminous writings of the codifier of Hindutva – Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, another iconic figure of leaders of the present regime.
Over time, the BJP evolved and moderated its stance on several crucial issues, most notably the three ‘contentious’ pledges of the party: Ram temple, abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution and introduction of Uniform Civil Code.
These promises found no mention in the National Agenda of Governance drafted after Atal Bihari Vajpayee became Prime Minister in March 1998 with support from several other parties. These pursuits were also excluded from the joint Manifesto for the parliamentary polls in September-October 1999, necessitated after the previous government lost a vote of confidence.
BJP’s U-turn
Yet, the BJP cunningly secured the support of coalition partners on the promise to “form a commission to review the Constitution of India in the light of the developments since independence.”
After the Opposition erupted on this idea, the government modified its stance and appointed a commission to review the ‘working of the Constitution’. This episode nonetheless revealed that the ‘problems’ of the Sangh Parivar with the Constitution had not changed since the dawn of the Republic. It still wanted to ‘replace’ a Constitution with a more ‘acceptable’ document.
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In 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office, he was benefited by being a close bystander to the dispute in 2000-01. He was aware that for the people, the Constitution as well as the Prime Ministerial system of governance (and not a Presidential style of government that was proposed during the long debate on the Constitution in the Vajpayee years) were sacrosanct, as a document as well as a system of governance.
Modi and CAA
Consequently, the Parliament Building was termed as the Temple of Democracy by Modi during his first visit after securing the electoral mandate to govern India. The Constitution too was called India’s most revered holy text.
In practice, however, the spirit of the Constitution has been altered on numerous occasions, for instance by the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which linked the grant of Indian citizenship to the religious identity of the applicant. This also compromises the secular character of the Indian state.
In the past few years, the ‘temple of democracy’ has been trodden upon, for instance when the process of shifting the ‘Garba Griha’ was initiated while the COVID pandemic was still raging. (On December 10, 2020, Modi laid the foundation stone of the New Parliament Building in Delhi.)
Abusing the Constitution
By then, another major hallmark of the Constitution and the Indian state had fallen. The lines of separation between state and religion were erased with the Prime Minister performing religious rituals during Bhoomi Pujan rituals in Ayodhya and Parliament House.
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There was no deviation from this during the inauguration of the New Parliament Building in May 2023 and the Ram temple prana pratishtha on January 22, 2024.
Thirty-two years after first wishing many people a Happy Republic Day, I find that this practice, of wishing one-another on the two celebratory days, has become a ‘trend’ courtesy technological advancement and social media. But, in this period, the text has become a holy book that is routinely trampled upon.
Secular values eroded
With prejudice towards religious minorities, especially Muslims, becoming more prevalent, the Constitution’s pillar of secularism is now more eroded than ever before.
There are quaint parallels between the present situation in India and the tale of the Ship of Theseus, also known as Theseus's Paradox.
This thought experiment raises a fundamental question: Will an object that has had all of its components replaced, remain fundamentally the same object?
Dhankar’s assault
The question becomes all the more worrying in the backdrop of the repeated challenge, posed by Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankar, to the Supreme Court-ordained doctrine regarding the ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution.
If Dhankar’s claim – backed by many in the government – that Parliament is ‘supreme’ and can alter every bit of the Constitution, is put to practice, will it remain the same document which came into force on January 26, 1950?
If not, then what meaning will WhatsApp forwards of 'Happy Republic Day' have in contemporary India?
(The Federal seeks to present views and opinions from all sides of the spectrum. The information, ideas or opinions in the articles are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Federal.)
