Opinion
Elections 2024: Historic for the Constitution that unites us all?
Summary
- Both BJP and Congress accuse each other of trying to bend India’s rulebook. Is this a moment of triumph for ‘We the People’? After all, its basics don’t just unite us as citizens of a free country, they assure us national stability.
The Indian Constitution—or the Samvidhan in Hindi—has rarely if ever been a campaign spearhead for national elections. This time, though, poll speeches have brought it up with a frequency that may suggest a deep divide over it. The irony: Both archrivals in the country’s electoral fray, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress, have accused each other of planning to twist it for partisan ends. The issue at stake is affirmative action. The BJP has picked up the Congress slogan of proportional quotas (for jobs and education) to allege its rival will re-allot existing provisions to religious minorities in violation of the statute’s caste criterion.
In contrast, the Congress-led opposition has used perceptions of BJP comfort with an ancient caste hierarchy to fan lower-caste fears of reservations being dropped at upper-caste behest. Half-truths being weaponized for attacks on straw-men are politics as usual. What’s true is that this year’s electoral result will probably pivot on the votes of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), as it did in 2014 and 2019.
Quota-endowed OBCs constitute the bulk of India, evidently. Moreover, the BJP’s vote-share gains can be attributed largely to OBC favour and the opposition’s hopes rest broadly on reversing that trend. This is identity politics as usual. The silver lining, however, is this: With poll-rally rhetoric on both sides broadly in support of the Constitution, 2024 marks a signal moment of stability in how ‘We the People’ have chosen to govern ourselves.
Or is it too early to tell? As the Left has pointed out, the BJP’s core ideology is framed by its mentor, an organization whose post-1947 record includes a critique of the Constitution for its neglect of ancient Hindu texts such as the Manu Smriti. The ruling party’s ‘Modi makeover,’ though, has included an agenda of caste inclusion that not only aligns with electoral incentives, but also conveys political evolution away on this matter. Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of the Constitution as a “holy book" when he came to power nearly 10 years ago.
That said, it is equally true that the document makes no claim to perfection, has been much amended, and—like all drafts—can and should be subject to debate and the force of reason. As Amartya Sen has shown, rationality and freedom are two sides of the same coin, and the rulebook we adopted captures the spirit of freedom won in peace.
It’s a sign of fraught politics that even a personal view articulated by the PM’s economic advisory council chief arguing that a case exists to “embrace a new Constitution," as Bibek Debroy did in Mint, was mistaken by some BJP critics as an omen of sorts. As a confident country with windows open to all, we must never make such topics taboo.
Wisdom demands clarity on what cannot change and what can—or should. The Judiciary has outlined a ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution that keeps us bonded as citizens. Wisely, it includes the Rights to Equality under Article 14 and to Life and Liberty under Article 21. As the glue of our bond, these must always be upheld. On this, a consensus is clearly rational among free people.
Encoded as a basic aspect of justice, it satisfies this test: If we were, somehow, all to be reborn as someone else at random (like a wheel of fortune), what rules would we adopt? The rulebook’s other basics also serve the aim of Indian unity. These need salience as public ideals endorsed fully by all parties before we take up what to amend. The universal promises of our Republic assure us stability.
