India, the Republic

India, the Republic

India, the largest and most vibrant democracy in the world is celebrating her 71st Republic Day on Sunday. It is indeed a very significant day in the history of this great country which has a rich heritage of democratic practices and religious tolerance. It was on January 26, 1950, when the Constitution of India came into effect, making the country a sovereign, secular and democratic nation. Being the longest in the world, framing the Indian Constitution took almost three years. The Constitution of India guarantees equality for all its citizens irrespective of caste, creed, religion, gender, etc. Unlike Independence Day when the Prime Minister hoists the tricolour, it is the President of India who fulfils the task on Republic Day. And above all, this is an occasion to celebrate India and the spirit of being Indian. Every Republic Day is precious and every day in the life of our Republic is precious. The country has been currently observing the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, who led us - and who inspired oppressed societies in Asia, Africa and elsewhere - to freedom from colonial rule. As the President of our country had said on the occasion of the previous Republic Day, Gandhiji remains the moral compass of our Republic; his teachings are still the touchstone to measure our policies and initiatives. It was on November 26, 2019 that the country observed the 71st anniversary of adoption of the Constitution. The Constitution has been considered as an enlightened and far-reaching document that laid the solid foundations of our Republic. It was the work of men and women of principle and patriotism who had comprised the Constituent Assembly. The values that have contributed towards shaping Indian independence and that continue to shape our Republic - the values inculcated in our democracy and our Constitution - are also the values that uphold the supremacy of the people of India. In a democracy, it is the supremacy of the people which is most important, and that exactly is what all citizens should always remember. This aspect of the supremacy of the people should be more remembered by those who have been entrusted by the people of this country to run the government and the nation for a five-year period. Many a time, the elected representatives of the people – whether up in Parliament or down in the Panchayat – fail to keep this fact in mind that in a democracy like India, the supremacy of the people has to be given the highest importance. This is because quite a number of people who are morally unfit to serve the people as elected representatives get elected, be it to the Panchayat or to Parliament. Many individuals who join politics – which is supposed to be the highest form of public service in a democracy – fail to understand that an election is not just a political exercise. They also fail to understand the basic fact that an election is a collective call to wisdom and a collective call to action. It essentially represents a renewal and a recommitment to the goals and hopes of a shared and egalitarian society. It represents the diverse and yet singular urges of the people and the Republic of India. This makes the very act of voting a sacred act. Thus, neglecting and negating the collective wisdom of the people is a kind of moral sin that such elected representatives, especially those belonging to ruling parties, alliances and combinations, commit. The President of India had, in his last year’s Republic Day speech said that no conception of India’s development can be complete without a salute to our spirit of inclusiveness - of access and opportunity for all; of an expansion and an embrace of those whom we consider our own. He had also said that this country belongs to each of us and to all of us - every group and every community, every region and every identity. It belongs to every citizen and every individual and that India’s pluralism is its greatest strength and its greatest example to the world. But then, what those in power at the Centre and in the State are trying to do by bringing in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act appears to have forgotten this, and are trying to push the indigenous communities which had immensely contributed towards India’s freedom into a situation where they stand to be wiped out by illegal migrants.

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