The most important part of Parliament is the Opposition whose job is to oppose. If there is no Opposition, there is no democracy, says Fali S Nariman in his lucidly written gripping book
What gives life to a country is its Constitution, its rule book. It is the Constitution which determines the personality of the State and the complex nature between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, the three pillars that sustain its civilization.
Indians obey in letter and spirit the Constitution of India, which is the culmination of the works launched by the British colonial masters beginning with the passage of Government of India Act 1858 that marked the end of the reign by the British East India Company and taking over of the administration of the country by His Majesty’s Government and lowering of the Union Jack in the mid night of August 14-15, 1947 with which power was transferred to Indians.
The Constituent Assembly, a body of scholars, topnotch bureaucrats (representing the elite Civil Service, not the present one but the vintage ICS) legal luminaries, politicians and economists constituted the Constituent Assembly which began its brainstorming session on 9 December 1946 that went up to 26 November 1949 that resulted in India becoming richer with a Constitution described as one of lengthiest written works of its kind in the world. The Constitution of India should be described as one of the wonders of the world as it integrates and unifies a “sub-continent” home to hundreds of castes, creeds, religions, languages, traditions and customs.
Fali S Nariman, the Bheeshma Pitamah of India’s legal world, has come out with a book “You Must Know Your Constitution” a comprehensive volume on the Constitution of India. The 94-year old author says that Indian Constitution has 395 Articles, 251 printed pages and a word tome of 1,46, 385 words. The quality of some of the lawyers appearing in High Courts and Supreme Court, underscores the need for them to read Indian constitution thoroughly.
Nariman untangles the complex nature of the Constitution through eight thought provoking chapters. At a time when there is a strong demand from a section of society for a One Nation One Poll electoral system and dumping the archaic socialist system of economy, it is an ideal time to read this work, which I am sure would not be the nonagenarian’s swan song. The nation needs scholars like Nariman for the survival of its democratic syThe Indian Constitution’s DNA is made up of the values and philosophy as mentioned in Ramayana, Mahabharat and of course Bhagawath Gita. Though there were instances of adulteration of the Constitution, by and large it could be claimed that the rule book has remained intact.
What ails the Indian Constitution is the silence maintained by puritans of the subject who should have sounded the alarm bell when the rule book came under attack by those who presided over the legislature. This is a major drawback and Nariman is trying to address the lacuna through his work. I have not read his autobiography (Before Memory Fades) and I do feel it is a major failure/shortcoming. (Books have become expensive though I do feel that Nariman has every justification to charge a reasonable price for his treasure house of knowledge). The other book by the same author I read was Harmony Amidst Disharmony, the first volume of the series on Arbitration. Since it is too professional and academic in nature (though Nariman has made it in a lucid style), the subject may not be comprehensible for average readers.
“You Must Know Your Constitution” features the history of the evolution of Indian Constitution over the last six decades. It was Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak who proposed in 1895 a parliamentary system of government for India. Tilak, whose war cry was “Swaraj is my Birth Right” spoke about “Constitution of India Act” and provided for a Parliament of India. His vision was that of “an Indian nation wherein every citizen may express his thoughts by words or writings and publish them in print without liability or censure except being answerable for abuses that may be committed in the exercise of this right and wherein no-one shall be sentenced except by a competent authority”. He also dreamt of a nation wherein the law should be equal to all. This remained in the realm of wishful expectation, according to the author.
The second attempt after Tilak’s dream project was the Government of India Act 1919 which B R Ambedkar described as Constitution of British India as it was passed by the British Parliament. The effort by Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru to get a Constitution for India too failed as the Labor Party Government which got the Bill drafted by the former lost the majority in House of Commons and Indian hopes suffered a temporary setback.
Before the enactment of Government of India Act 1947, sometime in 1946, Father of the Nation Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had suggested that the Constitution of India should reflect the will of the people instead of professional politicians and legal luminaries who have no first-hand experience with the culture, tradition and heritage of this vast country. Nariman points out that the book The Gandhian Constitution for Free India authored by Shriman Narayan for which the foreword was written by Gandhi has highlighted this demand. Whether the members of the Constituent Assembly bother to go through this work is anybody’s guess.
The constituent assembly met from 9 December 1946 to 26 November 1949 to finalize the Constitution. The legendary Nani Palkhivala, has said in one of his articles that the foundations of the Constitution have been shaken by the folly of the people, the corruption of our politicians and the negligence of the elite. “In just 30 years (1950-1980), we have reduced the noble processes of our Constitution to the level of a carnival of claptrap, cowardice and chicanery” wrote Palkhivala. He had enough reasons to write like this.
Nariman says in his book that a democratic government demands not only a parliamentary majority but also parliamentary minority. Quoting Ivor Jennings (British jurist who was an authority on Constitutions) the author says that the most important part of Parliament is the Opposition. Attacks upon the Government and upon individual ministers are the functions of the Opposition The duty of the Opposition is to oppose. If there is no Opposition, there is no democracy,” writes Nariman.
There are some noteworthy incidents about which the author is silent. What was happening inside the Houses during 2014 to 2023? For the first time in the history of Indian parliament, we saw militant Opposition staging demonstrations inside the House holding placards and posters. Though the Government of the day had set apart three or four days for discussion on Farm Reforms Bill, the entire discussion was a total washout.
The new generation may be ignorant of the Keshavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala case (1973) in which the Constitution bench ruled that amendment of the Constitution means that the original spirit of the Constitution must remain intact after the amendment. The basic structure or features of the Constitution cannot be changed.
But the then Government derailed the 1973 verdict by altering and tampering the Preamble of the Constitution. The characterization of India as sovereign democratic republic has been changed to “sovereign socialist secular democratic republic”. But why? Till date no satisfactory explanation has been given to this question. During the Citizenship Amendment Act, we saw all topnotch Opposition leaders staging demonstrations across the country by reading the tampered preamble of the Constitution.
Dr Subramanian Swamy, senior BJP leader and former minister for law and justice quotes Dr Ambedkar who questioned the propriety of introducing the terms secularism and socialism in the preamble. “The term secularism is inherent in Indian ethos. The word socialism is too political and the incorporation of this term makes it mandatory for those who do not believe in this ideology to leave the country. This is unacceptable,” Ambedkar reportedly told the Constituent Assembly and it was decided to dump the terms from the draft.
Swamy who was the lone Opposition member to witness the 42nd amendment says that he was aghast watching the proceedings. “The amendment was passed by jailing the entire Opposition law makers under Defence of India Rule and maintenance of Internal security act (MISA). It was an illegal act,” said Dr Swamy.
Any discussion on the Indian Constitution would not be complete without mentioning Nandlal Bose, the Santiniketan professor who embellished the manuscript of the Constitution with his paintings our of the great Indian epics. The Government of India should bring out future editions of the Constitution with the paintings by Bose.
Nariman could have enlightened the readers with these instances which would have made them richer in knowledge. But all said, this is a must read work for those who want to keep abreast of the functioning of our Constitution.Yes, We must know our Constitution.
