Independence Day 2024: The Idea Of India Through The Constitutional Lens

In global history, what is distinctive about India바카라�s past is its ability to have always transformed divisions into diversity. This is the essence of the health of Indian democracy as well. Indian democracy is rooted in the diversity of our region, culture, religion and ideology, which had informed the compulsions of Indian politics. 
 
In the recent past, however, more divisive political narratives have created a fractured concept of a 바카라�new India바카라�. As we celebrate another year of Independence, we are once again left wondering: What is the idea of India? What moves the world바카라�s largest democracy? 

If one is unwrapping Indian democracy, the first layer to unfold is federalism. In an article titled바카라�바카라�The Indian Diversity바카라�바카라� in바카라�Outlook바카라�s바카라�28 February 2022 issue바카라�called바카라�Altered Federalism, Tanvir Aeijaz writes about how the makers of the Indian Constitution agreed upon a바카라�sui generis바카라�federal architecture of power-sharing and instituted a federal framework for the electoral response to the overarching centralised representative democracy. Tracing the federal process from Independence, keeping in hindsight the challenges of British centralised governance, he writes about how state elections have been assertions for accommodation and legitimation of the very principles of federalism as enshrined in the Constitution.

The federal process, since Independence, has also had a roller-coaster journey, altering multiple times around the demands of states바카라� autonomy and the actual participatory, legislative and policy pitches to the dynamics of everyday political life. The question of federalism re-emerged when the BJP government pitched the concept of 바카라�One Nation, One Election바카라�.바카라� 

The concept of 바카라�One Nation바카라�, however, was not limited to elections for there have been instances to promote one culture and religion too. The question arises then, about the idea of secularism which relegates religion to the private space and which is written in the preamble to our Constitution?바카라� 

바카라�Secularism was one of the most elaborately debated issues by the framers of the Indian Constitution and its meaning oscillated between procedural justice to religious minorities to 바카라�principled distance바카라� between religion and politics,바카라� says Ajay Gudavarthy in an article titled바카라�바카라�Out Of Sync바카라�. Since the beginning of discussions around constitutional rights, there have been concerns around protecting the fundamental rights of religious minorities, especially in the light of Partition. It was burdened by the imperatives of protecting cultural identities that went beyond religion, on the one hand, and carrying out necessary 바카라�social reform바카라�, on the other. 

Today, the paradox extends to the question of rituals and if the idea of secularism 바카라� caught between a deeply religious citizenry and a religion-driven polity 바카라� is facing threat both as an ideal and as a practice. 

Arguing that secularism is a political project in an article titled바카라�바카라�The Great Indian Paradox바카라�, in Outlook바카라�s issue called바카라�The Secularism Question, Ashutosh Bhardwaj states that even Indira Gandhi, who inserted the word 바카라�secular바카라� in the Preamble to the Constitution, had been visiting and consulting godmen. Since Gandhi, he adds, politicians across parties have turned to religion in their public life, undermining the ideal of a secular state. 

However, even as the state바카라�s engagement with religion remains one of the long-standing conflicts in the democratic experiment, the political dominance of the Hindutva brand since the 2014 elections has put into question the viability of the nation바카라�s secular tradition and its commitment to diversity, notes바카라�SY Qureshi. 바카라�Constitutional secularism is of immense import to our notions of citizenship, nationality and civic freedom,바카라� he writes.바카라� 

As we observe the 78th Independence Day, the need to protect the delicate moral fabric of our republic against elements of hate and fear, both in speech and in action, has become more pertinent to ensure the great values of non-violence, equality and communal solidarity built by our founding fathers. As Bhardwaj writes, we must remember that the book by which we rule our nation should not be any religious epic or revelation, but our extraordinary Constitution that is secular to the core.