We need perfect laws and their
perfect implementation
Is there tolerance, or the lack of it, in
the country? Another question is how far the values of the Constitution are being
understood today? Prime Minister
Narendra Modi rightly said that the only religion for his
government was ‘India first’ and the only holy book, the Constitution, during the
current winter session of Parliament.
It is a fact that secularism has been
politically misused to reap electoral benefits. It will be in the interest of
the country, if all the political parties implement the idea of secularism in
true spirit. It has become a fashion to call BJP a nonsecular Party. In India, all
Political Parties are trying to exploit people whipping up Religious sentiments
to garner votes in Elections. Before Britishers came to India, all Religions co-existed
and lived peacefully.
There is no doubt that secularism is the
basic features of constitution. But so called secular of present day
miscontrued it as appeasement of minority community. if you are secular, it
should not be emphasized again and again. It is also true for majority
community. To some extent issue of intolerence is hyped by insensitive media.
One or two incident of lawlessness does not mean India has become intolerent
country. In spite of playing it down some people in media exaggerate it as if
the whole country has become intolerent.
Preface of the constitution i.e the
Preamble start's with "WE THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, SOCIALIST, SECULAR, SOVEREIGN
REPUBLIC". These lines shows that we are above the nexus of caste, creed
and races.
Constitution which played a crucial role
in framework of democracy and helped us post-independence whenever the pillars
of democracy (Legislative, Executive, Judiciary) were under dilemma. Although
with the changing times, constitutional amendments is obvious which require the
moulding of laws and articles, but if we shackle the basement of constitution
that is the Preamble, castle of the constitution will fall ultimately.
The idea of secularism is crystal clear
to those who want to understand it. It is the stipulation that the Citizen's
faith in a religion or otherwise will not influence its decision on any matter.
This is popularly known as the separation of the State and the Church in
western democracies. This rule has nothing to do with minorities. Their right
to equality before law is enshrined in other sections of the Constitution. The
laws of any society are based on the values that members of the society believe
and will lead to maintaining the society as a cohesive unit, where every member
will be free to pursue his interests without hindrance from other members based
on their leanings on religious matters. Practically every individual derives
his values from the religious texts. But as everyone knows, religions cannot be
the sole arbiter of values as different religions prescribe different values.
Diverse and democratic India needs a
Constitution which ensures that ‘all citizens are treated equally, under the
same law dispensed equally without fear or favour with equity and fairness’,
that there is ‘equality of opportunity and support for the weak’, that
‘everyone is free to hold any view on any subject (including religious,
political, economic, social) and voice dissent without fear, oppression or
punishment’, that ‘no one has a right to curtail another’s rights’. Yet, the
Constitution at present enshrines privilege on a hereditary basis, allows
almost 1/10th of its population to be stripped of their basic human rights
(universally accepted as fundamental). The Constitution has been successively
amended to facilitate political manipulation and psychological exploitation of
its citizens. Today, the Constitution is divisive and detrimental to India’s
progress; it prevents India from being economically strong, socially harmonious
or militarily less vulnerable. What we need today is a perfect Constitution and
its perfect implementation.
No comments:
Post a Comment