John Eric Gomes had earlier listed several functions of a nation State
but he seems to be talking of some ideal State, hardly the Indian State.
For example, he claimed that India is not a Banana republic. True?
One dictionary defines this "as one of the smaller tropical countries
whose economies mostly depends on fruit exports, tourism, and foreign
investors."
So John is right to say that India is not a banana republic.
THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION
John Eric next labels India a 'constitutional democracy'. These two
words, quite alien to Hindi, are among several that characterise a
western State.
Indian languages simply lack modern conceptual categories (like history,
sociology, philosophy, etc) and the few Indians like Ambedkar or Nehru
who visited England lost no time in expanding their English vocabulary
and learning European concepts.
The Constituent Assembly consisting of a team made up of Ambedkar & some
others were given the task of drafting a Constitution for India in time
for independence.
How could a team of Indians who had no experience of governance draft a
Constitution?
Ambedkar's team did the next best thing. They latched onto the British
India Government Act (1935) as a template. It is a lengthy and detailed
document with 321 sections and 10 schedules. Many key features of the
constitution are directly taken from this Act.
The team was heavily influenced by the British model of Parliamentary
Democracy.
Next the team examined other Constitutions - the USA, Canada, Australia,
Ireland and Germany - and selected certain Principles. It was soon
accepted that Indian languages were
too primitive in their vocabulary and usage and it was decided to draft
the Constitution in English, the language of the colonial masters. The
task fell on the few Indian elites
who had been educated in England.
The Constitution was adopted by the India Constituent Assembly on 26
November 1949 and came into effect on 26 January 1950.
The Indian Constitution is a curious document which few Indians have
read or can understand.
Literacy in 1947 was just 12%, so here was a seminal document circulated
that most Indians could not understand.
There are phrases and constructs like
'solemnly resolved', 'sovereign democratic republic', 'secure justice,
social, economic and political;
liberty of thought, expression, faith and worship'; 'equality of status
and opportunity';
'promote fraternity, dignity of the individual and integrity of the
nation'.
Indian languages simply do not use concepts like these.
So the Constitution is basically an alien document which the 'Fathers of
the Nation' felt was needed to define the new nation.
The Fathers of the Nation had found they couldn’t get far with the
British rulers without learning English and western modes of thinking.
Their own land might be rich in myth and ritual but offered little
intellectual stimulus and
their languages could not match English in depth, range and nuance.
The Constitution was in effect an imposition of an alien thought
stream on a largely peasant population.
Amendments: In 1976 during that darkest hour of Indian democracy — Mrs
Gandhi's Emergency, the 42nd Amendment was made, slipping in the words
“secular”
and “socialist” into the Preamble.
The inclusion of these words had been rejected by Dr Ambedkar, the main
architect of the Constitution.
Since the coming of the BJP to power in 2014 the pretence of being
‘secular’ has been thrown overboard. Those running the country have
openly declared their intention to
convert this country into a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ making Muslims, Christians,
Jains, Buddhists indeed every religious minority into second-class
citizens.
The Indian parliament has become the rubber stamp of the rich and
powerful but under the BJP/NDA regime even the farce of parliamentary
approval has been dropped.
(The Preamble of the Constitution appears as an attachment in this
email)
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Eddie
