Consensus across the Great Divide — India’s political spectrum — is rare. That the government and the Opposition agreed to hold a two-day discussion in Parliament on the Constitution’s journey was thus heartening. The deliberations, quite expectedly, led to both sides attempting to not only underline their own commitment to the constitutional vision but also point to lapses committed by the rival side. Two speeches, those by the prime minister and the leader of the Opposition, were emblematic of this duel. Narendra Modi singled out the Congress for censure, highlighting, for instance, the Grand Old Party’s hand in gagging constitutional rights through the imposition of the Emergency or, to take another example, citing the role of
India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in the controversial first amendment to the Constitution. Rahul Gandhi delivered his own fusillade as well, choosing to distinguish the upholders of the Constitution from the endorsers of Manusmriti — presumably the sangh parivar and its political representatives — a text whose tenets challenge some of the basic premises of India’s foundational doctrine.

The debate, not necessarily of the highest quality, was significant in one respect. It showed that the proverbial shadow falls between word and deed of all political parties when it comes to the Constitution. In spite of their solemn pledges to respect the republic’s sacred document, politicians have seldom blinked twice before assaulting the Constitution’s body and spirit. Embedded social, economic and political discrimination, communal conflagrations, the toppling of governments through engineered defections, the erosion of federalism, the politicisation of public offices, the deepening of corruption, the crushing of dissent and the stifling of freedom of speech, State meddling in individual choices, ranging from what to eat, how to dress, to even whom to love — each of these warts, among others, that has sprouted on India’s political and public skin is an instance of the undermining of the Constitution’s protections. The Congress may have been the original sinner when it comes to some of these transgressions but the Bharatiya Janata Party cannot deny that it has emulated the Congress and, in some instances, even surpassed it in these dark arts. Therefore, it is important for India’s citizens to consolidate their compact with the Constitution and its gifts. That would be the best way of holding politicians of all spots to account.