The purpose of making the Indian Constitution

The Indian Constitution, modeled on Western systems, was intended to modernize the country but has been criticized for failing to address the deep-rooted socio-economic challenges.

IN WESTERN COUNTRIES like the USA, Britain, France, etc., the purpose of having a Constitution, whether written (as in the USA, France, Germany, etc.) or unwritten (as in the U.K.), is essentially twofold:

(1) To establish the organs of power, e.g., the legislature, executive, and judiciary, and define their limits.

(2) To guarantee the liberties of the people, such as freedom of speech, liberty, freedom of religion, etc., by placing checks on the executive and the legislature.

Constitutions are said to be made by the people of the country. For instance, the preamble to the U.S. Constitution states:

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Thus, constitutions presume that the true rulers of a country are its people, who have made the Constitution. All constitutions provide for a democratic form of government, and democracy was defined by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln as “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

The apparent purpose of the Indian Constitution is similar to that of Western constitutions (as mentioned above), but the real purpose is very different. To understand this, we must consider some facts:

The founding fathers of the Indian Constitution drafted it based on Western models. They borrowed the concepts of a parliamentary system of democracy and an independent judiciary from England, fundamental rights and a federal structure from the U.S. Constitution, directive principles from Ireland, Article 301 (which provides for free trade and commerce throughout the country, thereby ensuring economic unity) from Article 92 of the Australian Constitution, and so on.

Thus, a modern Western-style Constitution was borrowed from the West and transplanted onto our backward, semi-feudal society, possibly with the belief that this would propel our society into the modern age. To some extent, it did. After the Constitution was promulgated in 1950, a heavy industrial base was established in India, many new engineering colleges like the IITs were set up, and education (including girls’ education) became more widespread, among other developments.

However, there was a fundamental flaw in this thinking: great historical changes cannot be brought about simply by promulgating Constitutions. Such change requires historical struggles by the masses and, ultimately, a revolution.

After all, what is a historical transition? It is a period in which the old feudal society is uprooted and a new, modern society is created. Old values are destroyed and replaced by new ones. As Shakespeare says in Macbeth, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” In other words, what was once regarded as good (e.g., the caste system) is now seen as bad by enlightened sections, and what was previously seen as bad (e.g., intercaste or love marriages) is no longer considered negative.

Can this transformation occur without a mighty people’s struggle? The vested interests in the old order will fiercely resist such changes.

If we study European history from the 16th to the 19th centuries, when Europe transitioned from a feudal agricultural to a modern industrial society, we see that this period was marked by turbulence, turmoil, chaos, wars, revolutions, social upheaval, and intellectual ferment—examples include the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, the English Civil War and Glorious Revolution, the French Revolution of 1789 and the subsequent Napoleonic wars, as well as the theories of Hobbes, Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau, and the French Encyclopedists. It was only after passing through this crucible that modern society emerged in Europe.

Similarly, India must pass through such a period of struggle before a modern society, like those in the West, can be established here. A Constitution is just a piece of paper, and by itself, it cannot bring about great historical changes without a mighty people’s struggle.

In fact, the Indian Constitution serves to deceive the Indian people in the following ways:

Illusion of Democracy:

The Indian Constitution of 1950 presumes that the real rulers of the country are its people. It provides for democracy, which, according to Lincoln, means rule by the people, for their benefit.

However, everyone knows that the real rulers of India are a handful of crooked politicians and big businessmen who are in league with them.
Thus, the first purpose of the Indian Constitution is to deceive and mislead the Indian people into thinking they are the rulers of the country, while, in reality, they are like slaves.

Illusion of Freedom:

The second purpose of the Indian Constitution is to trick the Indian people into believing they gained freedom when India became independent in 1947.

In truth, the vast majority of the Indian population did not gain real freedom in 1947. Real freedom means economic freedom—freedom from poverty, unemployment, hunger, lack of proper healthcare, and lack of quality education for the masses. These are freedoms from which the Indian people are still deprived.

What does freedom of speech in Article 19(1)(a), freedom to travel throughout India in Article 19(1)(d), or freedom to do business in Article 19(1)(g) mean to a poor, unemployed, or hungry person? These freedoms are meaningless without economic rights. Economic rights, mentioned in the Directive Principles of State Policy, are specifically made non-enforceable by Article 37—they are mere ornaments without the force of law.

In his State of the Union Address delivered on 11th January 1944, a speech known as the Second Bill of Rights, US President Franklin Roosevelt said that without economic rights like right to employment, right to healthcare and right to housing, the rights mentioned in the Bill of Rights to the US Constitution were illusory.

Even political freedoms like freedom of speech, liberty, and equality, while existing on paper, often do not exist in practice. Why is Umar Khalid still in jail without bail or trial for over four years? Is it merely because he is a Muslim? Why were the Bhima Koregaon accused imprisoned for years on trumped-up charges? Or Professor Saibaba?

Why has the brave police officer Sanjiv Bhatt been languishing in jail for several years on a flagrantly trumped-up charge, just because he gave an affidavit in the Supreme Court accusing Modi of being complicit in the massacre of thousands of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002? Why was Dr. Kafeel Khan arrested and kept in jail for a long period? There are countless similar examples.

Illusion of Parliamentary Democracy:

The Indian Constitution provides for parliamentary democracy, creating the illusion that people are governing themselves.

In reality, however, parliamentary democracy in India operates primarily on the basis of caste and communal vote banks, skillfully manipulated by crooked political leaders. These leaders have no genuine love for the people; they seek power for themselves by polarizing society and inciting hatred between castes and communities.

Casteism and communalism, which are feudal forces, must be destroyed if India is to progress. However, parliamentary democracy further entrenches these forces. Hence, democracy in India is a farce, and its real purpose is to fool the people into thinking they are the masters of the country, when in fact, they are slaves.

Illusion of Problem-Solving:

Parliamentary democracy, as outlined in the Constitution, gives people the false hope that their basic problems—massive poverty, unemployment, child malnutrition, and lack of proper healthcare—can be solved within the system.

The truth, however, is that these problems can only be solved outside the system, through a massive people’s revolution led by selfless, modern-minded leaders committed to creating a political and social order that rapidly industrializes and modernizes the country, raising the standard of living for all.

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