Why I think 26th November is not our #ConstitutionDay, 18th December is

By Samir Shukla*

I share it each year…. as I want the realisation to sink in, especially to the young generation that has no memory of the great “emergency” of 1976.

My Whatsapp account is not exactly getting bombarded with images of the preamble of our constitution to celebrate its birth anniversary today, but as I do have some informed friends celebrating the day, I am forced to ponder over a few words there-in that were (probably intentionally) not written in the revered book by our founding fathers, and yet very few Indians are acknowledging what they actually mean for the nation.

I am sorry to say that it is no longer appropriate to consider 26th November as our Constitution Day, as what was enacted on that date in 1949 is now infected with more than 2000 viruses that have changed its DNA completely.

What we now have is a new species with a fundamentally different DNA, as our constitution is no longer a deed that reflects the religion-agnostic idea of a nation envisaged by our founding fathers.

18th December 1976, the date on which 42nd Amendment that changed the preamble was assented to, must be treated as a new birthdate of a brand new nation. It was a momentous change that brought religion to a nation a conceived without one.

As someone born in a nation that was only “sovereign democratic republic”, the new preamble that has turned India into a “sovereign, socialist secular democratic republic”, 18/12/1976 is a date that changed India forever.

Strange and counterintuitive it may sound, but the insertion of word “secular” in the preamble of our constitution has destroyed the very fundamental idea of India that was expected to keep religion away from the national discourse, as it opened the floodgates that brought religions into the national politics in full force.

Till that date India was almost a unique nation sans religion in its constitution. By avoiding religious reference in the preamble, the founding fathers had brilliantly kept religions outside the meddling of the state, making religion a need-based idea that the state may refer to based on the requirements of making a law.

This deliberate avoidance of religious positioning in preamble is actually in line with religion-specific laws that the nation enacted, as state was not to look at religion beyond the limited idea that it was a quality that placed people in a given group that needed a unique set of laws to function.

It was a fine idea of jurisprudence that addressed a critical need of a diverse nation, i.e. need of different laws for different religions without bringing them on one platform where they are compared with each other.

Cometh the 42nd amendment and the nation change forever.

The state now became a stakeholder in the religion-space of the nation. The insertion of the word “secular” did not mean that state would not interfere in religious issues; instead, it ended up meaning that state must proactively interfere with natural and social dynamics of religions and traditions.

The net result is, secularism became a brand new religion, a dogma worse than any religion as it was given a shin of superiority over all religions. It turned India into a cauldron of simmering faiths and a nation looking for an identity.

The changes brought in the preamble on the fateful day of 18/12/1976 by Indira Gandhi has destroyed the very foundation on which Ambedkar’s truly “secular” nation was built, as it has opened up a Pandora’s box from which far too many demons have escaped now. It may have worked wonders for political parties; it has ensured that every religion is now pitted against the other.

Thanks to this change, politicians have been able to turn into the proverbial monkeys that are eating from the pie while the cats await interference from the state in the name of justice in deciding their share. It is a dream come true for politicians but a nightmare for the nation.

While the idea of insertion of the word “secular” is toasted by the elites, the real truth is, India could have been far more secular without having the word inserted in the preamble. Avoidance of “secular” was a far better route to achieve the coveted idea of separation of church and state.

All that India has achieved thanks to 42nd Amendment is opening up the back door for the state to meddle with religious issues in the name of secularism.

Even though we are a nation teaming with religions and faiths coexisting since eons, we seem to have chosen secularism as an antithesis of Hinduism, the biggest religion that drives the nation. The net result is, Hinduism has ended up bearing the brunt of state interference and is now turning hostile.

What we are seeing today are the initial reverberations of the 42nd Amendment, a change that threw a stone in a vast ocean called India. If we don’t recognize the problem, they may turn into a nation engulfing Tsunami.

We may or may not marry any religion; we need to stop our toxic love affair with secularism, as it is a relationship that has not worked for us.

#Constitution #ConstitutionDay2024

#1976emergency

---

*Source: Author's Facebook timeline

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

Would breaking idols, burning books annihilate caste? Recalling a 1972 Dalit protest

By Rajiv Shah A few days ago, I received an email alert from a veteran human rights leader who has fought many battles in Gujarat for the Dalit cause — both through ground-level campaigns and courtroom struggles. The alert, sent in Gujarati by Valjibhai Patel, who heads the Council for Social Justice, stated: “In 1935, Babasaheb Ambedkar burnt the Manusmriti . In 1972, we broke the idol of Krishna , whom we regarded as the creator of the varna (caste) system.”

'Restructuring' Sahitya Akademi: Is the ‘Gujarat model’ reaching Delhi?

By Prakash N. Shah* A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards .

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.

Search This Blog