New Delhi
January 27, 2000
Respected
Rashtrapatiji, Upa-Rashtrapatiji, Honourable Speaker of the Lok Sabha,
Distinguished Colleagues,
On
January 26 India celebrated the Golden Jubilee of Republic Day. Today we
have gathered here to commemorate this historic occasion. Fifty years ago,
in this very hall, our Constitution was adopted.
That
event was a culmination of our people’s long suppressed aspiration for
freedom; of an arduous, protracted struggle for self-governance.
The
journey of the creation of our Constitution has closely paralleled the
journey of our Freedom Movement in the early half of the last century.
Members
will recall that the `Commonwealth of India Bill’, prepared by Indians
in 1924, was an important initial milestone. This was followed by the
preparation of the `Swaraj Constitution’. A new dimension was added to
that effort with the Fundamental Rights Declaration in 1931.
Following
many ups and downs, the Non-party Conference prepared a comprehensive
Constitutional scheme in 1944-45. Unfortunately, that was nipped in the
bud. At last, the Constituent Assembly was set up.
Thereupon,
the Constitutional Advisor to the Constituent Assembly prepared the Draft
Constitution. The Draft was subjected to a clause-by-clause consideration
in Committees - headed by Pandit Nehru, Sardar Patel, and other
luminaries.
From
the discussions in the Drafting Committee headed by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
to the deliberations – as intense as they were intensive - in the
Constituent Assembly as a whole, it was one unbroken quest for perfection.
Indeed,
it was a saga. Even as they were being lashed by riots, killings,
oppression and imprisonment, our leaders kept at the task decade after
decade.
To
read the deliberations of the constituent Assembly and its committees even
today, even after 50 years, is to be overwhelmed by:
The
earnestness with which they approached the task;
The
insight they brought to bear on each Article;
The
farsightedness with which they anticipated the situations and problems
that were likely to arise;
The
singular touchstone by which they judged every provisions – always
guided by the interest of our country and our people;
How,
engulfed as they were by the aftermath of Partition, by riots, by an
invasion, by the urgent task of integrating the States – how they would
abstract themselves from this tumult, gather in this very hall, and weigh,
and deliberate, and fashion, and refashion, clause after clause.
We
are beneficiaries of their sacrifice: we should never forget that.
We
are heirs to that legacy – of exclusive, overarching devotion to the
national interest; of reasoned, civil discourse; of harmonizing disparate
views.
We
should never forget that.
There
is one great test for a Constitution, for any system of Governance. It
must deliver and it must be durable.
Our
Constitution has stood this test. And one reason it has been able to do so
is that it embodies a masterly balance: between the rights of the
individual and the requirements of collective life; between the States and
the Union; between providing a robust structure and flexibility.
Our
Constitution has served the needs of both India’s diversity and her
innate unity. It has strengthened India’s democratic traditions.
But
even in the mightiest fort one has to repair the parapet from time to
time, one has to clean the moat and check the banisters. The same is true
about our Constitution.
Five
decades after the adoption of the Constitution, India is faced with a new
situation. The need for stability, both at the Centre and in the States,
has been felt acutely.
The
people are impatient for faster socio-economic development. The country is
also faced with a pressing challenge to quickly remove regional and social
imbalances by reorienting the development process to benefit the poorest
and the weakest.
That
is the purpose for which a Commission to review the Constitution is
proposed to be set up. The basic structure and the core ideals of our
Constitution, however, will remain inviolate.
Let
us not forget that in the end a Constitution is only as good as the ones
who work the institutions which it has set up.
Participating
in the Constituent Assembly debates, Dr.Ambedkar had said:
"I
feel, however good a Constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad
because those who are called to work it, happen to be a bad lot. However
bad a Constitution may be, it may turn out to be good if those who are
called to work it, happen to be a good lot. The Constitution can provide
only the organs of State such as the Legislature, the Executive and the
Judiciary. The factors on which the working of those organs of the State
depend are the people and the political parties they will set up as their
instruments to carry out their wishes and their politics".
There
is widespread apprehension today that our institutions are not working as
the Constitution intends, that the conduct of those of us who run them is
not what the proper functioning of those institutions requires.
Let
this be our resolve today:
- We shall leave institutions – above all, our
Parliament and our State Legislatures – for the coming generation in
a condition vastly better than the condition in which we found them;
- In discharging our duties in them, our conduct will be
such as would have done the Founding Fathers proud.
That
would be a fitting way to repay our debt to them. That would be the one
tribute worthy of them.