In fact, it is paradoxical that the celebration of Constitution Day on November 26 of each year, which was made possible thanks to an announcement by the Narendra Modi government in 2015, is accompanied by an unleashing of forces and the creation of conditions by part of the NDA government for generalization. assault on the constitution itself.
Sinister developments in this regard are best represented by vicious and violent attacks against dissenters and protesters against numerous policies and laws that compromise the rights enshrined in the constitution, and in particular the rights of minorities and Muslims to lead a dignified life.
The strategy to polarize society by employing majoritarianism and slogans that invoke majority images and sentiments grimly recalls Dr. BR Ambedkar’s warnings that India would face calamities if the idea of ’Hindu rashtra‘were to become a reality. Therefore, he advocated measures to resist and defeat the idea of the Hindu rashtra.
Distorting Hindu-Muslim relations
On this Constitution Day, while remembering the historical and revolutionary significance of the approval of the constitution on November 26, 1949, the words of Ambedkar are remembered, who referred to the alarming articulations of the leaders who spoke about fight a war against the Muslims, and I thought I would turn it around as a war against the British. These comments refer to Ambedkar during the discussion of December 17, 1946 on the Resolution of Objectives proposed by Jawaharlal Nehru in the Constituent Assembly.
BR Ambedkar. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
He sternly warned that “… if war comes to this country and if that war has anything to do with the problem we face today, it will not be a war against the British. It will be a war against the Muslims ”.
Expressing anxiety and fear that “… if there is someone who has in mind the project of solving the Hindu-Muslim problem by force, which is another name to solve it with war … so that the Muslims are subjugated,” he feared. in such a context ”
The Muslim ‘otherness’, reminiscent of the days before the partition
Since 2014 there have been numerous attempts to project Muslims as the “other” and to spread poison in society to disrupt communal friendship, deliberately promoting discord in society.
Many of them have been lynched for their alleged “beef eating” habits. They have been the target of violent attacks for their clothing and even some people of other faiths have also faced violence from the police just because they wore beards and “looked” Muslim.
Refugees on a crowded carriage of a train leaving New Delhi for Pakistan in September 1947. Photo: Wikipedia
The use of the term “termite” by none other than the Indian Home Secretary to describe illegal people entering India from across the border has the subtext of pointing the accusing finger at Muslims of our country.
And now, the criminalization of the love of an interfaith couple, especially that of the Hindu and Muslim communities, by invoking Love Jihad despite the overwhelming absence of evidence to substantiate such fabricated toxicity clearly constitutes an attack on life and liberty, which they are in danger. the core of the constitution.
Relentlessly attacking Muslims to make them feel they are not equal citizens is nothing more than a war that must continue steadily and, in Ambedkar’s words, “to conquer them perpetually.”
This approach is manifested in the threatening statement by Uttar Pradesh Prime Minister Yogi Adityanath, who said that Muslim men would have to “embrace death” should the Hindu women they marry convert to Islam.
A few days ago he said: “I warn those who hide their identity and play with the respect of our sisters: if you do not amend their ways, their Ram naam saty‘(Invocation of Lord Ram’s name when carrying a corpse for cremation) will begin the journey. “
The chilling death threat evokes a declaration of war that Ambedkar had seen unfold in the days leading up to the 1946 partition. Such hateful statements by a prime minister elected 71 years after the approval of the constitution are a replay of the tragic times. in which the Constituent Assembly had just embarked on the daring adventure of framing the constitution. In fact, Mahatma Gandhi saw in the work of making a constitution a remedy to the problem of communalism.
Uttar Pradesh’s Draconian Ordinance Banning Illegal Religious Conversion, 2020, enacted just days before this year’s Constitution Day is intended solely to criminalize interfaith marriage and love. It is a direct assault on article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees the fundamental right to life and liberty. Many other states ruled by the BJP have stated that such legislation would be introduced to counter Love Jihad.
Equally tragic is doubling the selection of students professing the Islamic faith to civil service based on merit and rational criteria that one television station describes as UPSC Jihad. Fortunately, the courts have placed restrictions on the television broadcast of such programs, while the Center did not impose any prohibitions despite pointing out objectionable content.
Call for vengeance
When protests broke out against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) involving Muslims and people of various faiths across the country, including Uttar Pradesh, it was quite strange to note that Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister vowed to take revenge on the protesters. Such calls for retribution for exercising the constitutional right to protest is a war against the people and, therefore, a war against the constitution itself.
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath. Photo: PTI
Ambedkar had expressed his dismay in 1946 in the Constituent Assembly by saying that “I am horrified at the idea that someone in this country should think about solving the political problems of this country by the method of war.”
He would have been more dismayed and outraged at the way the elected leaders and occupiers of high constitutional positions in India in 2020 are waging a war against the constitution by violently attacking Muslims, students and those who question the government.
Use of force condemned
It would be instructive to note that Ambedkar had invoked Edmund Burke, who disapproved of British efforts to apply force against the rebellious colonies of the United States to bring them under his hegemony by force.
Burke had said: “First,… let me observe, that the use of force alone is temporary. You can submit for a moment, but it doesn’t eliminate the need to submit again; and a nation is not governed, which is perpetually conquered. “
He continued: “My next objection is your uncertainty. Terror is not always the effect of force, an amendment is not a victory. If he does not succeed, he runs out of resources, the conciliation fails, the force remains; But, when strength fails, there is no more hope of reconciliation. Power and authority are sometimes bought with kindness; but they can never be begged as alms for impoverished and defeated violence… ”.
Ambedkar’s wise advice on power
Those words of Burke quoted by Ambedkar in the constituent assembly of 1946 assume a deeper relevance for our time marked by the search for an aggressive majority on the part of those who have the mandate to govern the country based on the constitution.
File photo of Union Interior Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: PTI
Beyond Burke, Ambedkar further said: “It is easy to give power, it is difficult to give wisdom.” Therefore, Ambedkar reminded the constituent assembly that sovereign power must be exercised wisely.
He then stated: “That is the only way we can bring all sections of the country with us. There is no other path that can lead us to unity ”.
Those who have the mandate to govern the country following the constitution and constitutional methods must ask themselves whether the majority approach followed by them is consistent with exercising power wisely.
His entire muscular method of treating Muslims as the “other” is unconstitutional and would not help them carry all sections of the country with them. Ambedkar’s wise advice to combine power with wisdom for government means defending the constitution by avoiding retaliation in the name of religion or any other identity.
Let the powers that be in 21st century India be guided by that vision of Ambedkar by moving away from Love Jihad and other divisive agendas. That would be a fitting tribute to the constitution on Constitution Day to defend the idea of India.
SN Sahu served as a special duty officer and press secretary to the former President of India, KR Narayanan.
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