Tom Ginsburg is a professor at the University of Chicago and a world-renowned political scientist. Twenty years ago, while serving at the University of Illinois in the United States, he and his colleague Zachary Elkins initiated a unique study - Comparative Constitutions Project. The goal is to compare the constitutions of different countries. They studied more than 200 constitutions that were formed after the French Revolution (1789), which initiated the values such as freedom, democracy, and secularism which the modern world follows today. The project is still ongoing; however, in the lat ten years many of their findings and observations have come to light several times. One of them is regarding the lifespan of a constitution. The average lifespan of 200 constitutions is estimated to be just 17 years! This is where the Indian Constitution stands out as a miracle. If the Constitution has been able to keep the Republic intact even after ageing more than a human and when the country is going through serious political uncertainties, it is also a testament to the foresight and dedication of the statesman of our previous era. In Sri Lanka, which entered the new horizon of freedom with us, the Constitution has been rewritten three times in 75 years, in Pakistan six times and in Nepal five times. Although not as many as these countries, India has also faced various crises in the form of wars, emergencies and communal riots in the past three-quarters of a century. In all those difficult times, the Constitution has not only stood firm and unwavering but has often protected this paradise of pluralism. Therefore, when this great Constitution turns 75, it is a moment of pride for the Republic and its people. At the same time, it is a time for reflection and democratic defence of how the current regime, under the shadow of fascism, is eroding constitutional values.
The very essence of the Constitution lies in its Preamble, which begins with ‘We the people of India’ and ends with ‘... adopt, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution." Some have observed that this is a concrete expression of the concept of democracy. Everything is decided and implemented by the people; the concept of 'the people' is not monolithic. The Constitution is conceived as a framework for implementing the will of the people in a timely manner, incorporating the diversity of the entire country. This is why the Constitution has survived for so long. This has also been due to timely constitutional amendments. Bthis time, about 125 constitutional amendments have been implemented. Each one was a means of survival demanded by the times. It broadened the concepts of democracy; it emphasized fundamental rights. The fact that any amendment that does not change the basic structure of the Constitution is possible in the country is proof that it will continue to exist. Its history until ten years ago also testifies to this. Barring the time of Emergency, the ruling class here has managed to preserve it without any major injuries and to reform it for the future. Therefore, we have been able to maintain the pluralism of the country and thereby achieve economic and social progress. However, when the ideology of Hindutva openly took over the government, the situation changed completely.
“The worst thing about the Constitution of India is that there is nothing Indian about it. Manusmriti is the scripture that is most worshippable after Vedas for our Hindu nation...... Today, Manusmriti is the law” – this is VD Savarkar’s observation about the Constitution. The Hindutva government, whose rule has passed for a decade, testifies that it has the same approach towards this Constitution. The basic goal of this ideology is not pluralism but unity based on Hindutva and the dictatorship that comes with it. The attempt is to destroy all the ideas that stand in the way of that by using the loopholes in the Constitution itself. Let us not forget that it was the leaders of the saffron party who asked the Supreme Court to remove expressions like Secularism and Socialism from the Constitution. No one can dispute that all the catchy slogans of this regime, starting with ‘One Nation...’, will lead the country to complete dictatorship in practice. In short, a move is currently underway to slaughter constitutional values by using constitutional institutions under the majority in Parliament. Their declared stances, from the Uniform Civil Code to the One nation, One election and the two-day constitutional debate held in Parliament last November, underline this. This will be the biggest crisis the country will face when the Constitution completes 75 years. Perhaps because it has recognized this danger, the opposition has come forward with the slogan ‘Long Live the Constitution'. The call of that slogan is what these times are demanding of the Indian people to do.