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With the clash between the President and the Prime
Minister on the floor of parliament, the BJP-TDP plan to review the Constitution
has become the centre of debate. In this debate the various political formations
have allied with one or the other side, but none speak on how a constitution
should serve the basic interests of the masses. The Constitution (and its 84
amendments) has served the existing semi-feudal, semi-colonial order and the 5%
of the population who thrive off it. Now, the ruling classes, faced with a deep
crisis, debate how best to sustain the status quo; how best to protect their
crumbling order. Both, those for review and against review are involved in mere
shadow-boxing, to somehow bring a semblance of stability to their decrepit
order. The BJP-TDP seeks to bring this
about through greater fascist and autocratic measures; the others seek to bring
order through the existing fake parliamentary system. While the BJP-TDP is for
openly shooting down dissidents, the opposition is for maintaining the
democratic garb, saying, "sorry, killed in encounter."
These views came out very clearly in the
President’s speech in parliament, who, after waxing eloquent about the state of
Indian poverty, came straight to the point when he spoke of a "million
mutinies" brewing within the country. He said, "In my opinion we should
avoid too much rigidity in our system of government as in a very rigid system
there is the danger of major explosions in society taking place" and that
"there must be in the body politic a vent for discontents and frustrations to
express themselves in order to forestall and prevent major explosions in
society. The parliamentary system provides this vent...." So, while the BJP
says that an autocratic system can bring greater stability, the president says
that the parliament, acting as a safety valve, is the only guarantee to prevent
any future "explosion". This then is the essence of the controversy,
whether spoken in the name of Jefferson, Ambedkar, German system/British system,
etc, etc.
The BJP Agenda
The Sangh parivar has no time for democratic
trappings. Brought up in the Hitlerian mould, they have long since been talking
of a presidential form of government. The butcher, Chandrababu Naidu, also
follows suit. The BJP seeks to build a hindu fascist state. Its proposal for
constitutional review is part of this framework.
In order to camouflage its intentions it set up a
Constitutional Review Commission, without any presentation of what exactly needs
to be reviewed. No framework was set, no guidelines provided. But, of course,
the Commission was packed with saffron thugs. And a huge sum of Rs. 1 crore per
year has been allocated for these 11 reviewers — which means that each will take
home a fat payment of a minimum of Rs. 40,000 per month, with another Rs. 50
lakhs being spent on administrative costs.
It is headed by ex-Chief Justice, Venkatachalaiah,
notorious for his exoneration of Chief Minister, Kalyan Singh, in the Babri
Masjid demolition case, on the very day before he retired. Another Commission
member is Jeevan Reddy, who headed a seven-member bench of the Supreme Court
(along with Venkatachalaiah), that gave a judgement against reservations for the
SCs, STs and OBCs within the "creamy layer." The tone of the judgment,
ekes with upper caste superiority of the manusmriti-type. Yet another Commission
member is K. Parasaran — a hatchetman of the butcher Chandrababu Naidu, whose
daughter is the speaker of the A.P. Assembly. Then there are those from the RSS
lunatic fringe like C. Kashyap and Sumitra Kulkarni; the pro-BJP
Attorney-General, Soli Sorabjee; the US stooge, and former Ambassador to the
USA, Abid Hussain; and P.A. Sangma of anti-Sonia fame. Though the Sarkaria
Commission Report, on Centre-State relations has been shelved, the 85-year old
Sarkaria and the journalist C.R.Irani have been persuaded to be part of the
Commission to give it a modicum of respectability. And now, of the eight
subjects the Commission says they will take up for scrutiny, aspects relating to
Centre-State relations, comprise four of them. So the Indian people must pay Rs.
1 crore yearly for a task already done (and ignored) by the Sarkaria Commission.
Obviously, there is more intended, than what is declared by the Commission.
The real basic intention of the BJP-TDP is to
further centralise power, reduce even the nominal franchise that exists (already
reduced in the 87th amendment), allow power to be sustained for a minimum of
five years through constitutional fiat, and increase the powers of the executive
and their chief. The BJP has the added goal of saffronising the state structure.
The Opposition
While much of the opposition, including the
Congress(I) and parliamentary left, repeat parrot-like about the sacredness of
the Constitution (though amended 84 times) it is the Ambedkarites who have been
the most vocal. Just because Ambedkar was the chairman of the drafting committee
of the Constitution, these fake leaders, oppose review of the Constitution, even
though the dalits continue to face caste discrimination and live in abject
poverty. Surprisingly, these same ‘leaders’ were totally silent when, during the
Emergency, Indira Gandhi, through the 42nd Amendment brought about far-reaching
changes in the Constitution through the introduction of 59 clauses. Just like
the BJP today, the 42nd Amendment introduced highly autocratic measures
concentrating power in the hands of the Executive and prime minister. But then,
these dalit ‘leaders’ were silent!!
Of course, these ‘leaders’ are silent about the
fact that many of Ambedkar’s own clauses, regarding nationalisation of land and
industry; denying the right to private property, etc., were rejected by the
Constituent Assembly. Besides, they
ignore the fact that the constitution is nothing but a colonial replica,
produced by a body of elites, elected through a highly limited franchise.
Not Review – Burn the Constitution
The Constitution is basically built around the
colonial, Government of India Act, 1935. It was drafted by a Constituent
Assembly set up by the Cabinet Mission Plan of the British in 1946. They were
packed with representatives of the Rajas and Maharajas and that of the comprador
big bourgeoisie. Those from the princely states were appointed through
selection, while from the Provinces they came through the limited franchise that
then excluded the masses of the people.
The Constitution is basically a charter for proping
up the ruling classes and sustaining their rule. It is based on the old colonial
legacy and continues their policies in semi-colonial India. The numerous
amendments only act to make changes to facilitate this rule, with the changing
circumstances. In this Constitution the so-called Fundamental Rights can all be
restricted, with clauses for preventive detention; or even totally suspended
with clauses for declaration of Emergency and even Martial Law. And on the basic
questions of food, clothing and shelter and other social rights the so-called
Directive Principles are not justiciable — they only declare an ‘intention’ of
the government.
The past 50 years has shown how this Constitution
has been used to oppress and exploit the masses and enrich the few.
We have seen how the State resorts to terror,
‘constitutionally’ by putting areas under the disturbed areas act, special armed
forces acts, etc. We have seen how thousands are tortured, and killed in fake
encounters. And we have seen the condition of the masses continuously
deteriorate. The opposition and Ambedkarites want to perpetuate this
constitution, the BJP-TDP wants to make it even more tyrannical.
But, most important, amidst the hullabaloo being
created on the question of Constitutional Review, the government has quietly
introduced the Constitution (Eighty-Seventh Amendment) Bill, 1999. Introduced at
the instance of the TDP, this Bill seeks to limit the franchise at the taluka
and district levels — by converting them from elected bodies into those
nominated by the state government. Through this change, only the gram panchayat
will be a directly elected body. The block level panchayat samitis and Zilla
parishads will have no directly elected member. The TDP wants to institute a
Collector raj, with all controls maintained at Hyderabad through a hi-tech
communication systems. The TDP wants to even do away with the limited powers of
the panchayati raj institutions and maintain control through parallel
structures, such as Janmabhoomi. For all their talk of ‘empowerment’ of the
people, this Bill seeks exactly its opposite — i.e., to centralise power in the
hands of the Chief Minister.
So, with or without the review, the BJP-led
coalition will continue to introduce such fascist, undemocratic legislation. The
public and media can keep debating on the Constitution Review Commission, but
such basic amendments to the Constitution (as the 87th amendment) are being
introduced with no debate whatsoever. Such fascist legislation can only be
withheld by a vigilant public and through mass action. A strong democratic,
militant movement alone can beat back these fascist attacks.
Today, the script for a real new peoples
constitution is being written by the people of A.P, Bihar and Dandakaranya,
where a new socio-economic system is coming into being. It is here that the
people’s structures have replaced the existing structures — economic, political,
social, judicial. It is these new structures that will be the building blocks
for a real people’s democratic constitution of the future.
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