Indian constitution getting trampled

India’s Republic Day is celebrated on January 26 because the Indian Constitution was finalised on this date. The process started in 1947 when India gained freedom from the British Empire. In November 1947, a draft of the Constitution was developed and submitted to the Constituent Assembly. However, it took the Assembly over two years of discussions and modifications before the Constitution was finalised — the sessions held were open to the public.

Furthermore, the Assembly adopted the Constitution on November 26, 1949, but it did not come into effect immediately. The documents that established the charter were signed on January 24, 1950, and the Constitution officially came into effect for the nation on January 26, 1950. This was also the day when India’s first-ever president, Dr. Rajendra Prasad began his term. When the Constitution came into effect, it also replaced the Government of India Act and established India as a democratic republic. Republic Day is celebrated to mark the day when democracy and justice were chosen to run the nation.

India made a great beginning, becoming a champion of secularism, non-alignment and democracy.

The flag that it chose for itself, called the Tiranga, or tricolour, is unfurled at a ceremony at the Red Fort, New Delhi. It is symbolic: the saffron colour of the flag represents courage, the white represents peace and truth and the Ashok Chakra represents Dharma or moral law, while the green band represents fertility, growth and auspiciousness. These are noble sentiments but unfortunately, India’s current dispensation of rulers have let its adherence to principles slide.

Ever since the fanatic Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) came into power in 2014 under the firebrand Muslim-baiter, Narendra Modi, India has thrown the respect for humanity and upholding moral law to the winds and launched a reign of terror for its ethnic minorities as well as its neighbours. It is ironic that the BJP has been in power earlier too.

After the 1998 general election, the BJP-led coalition known as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee formed a government that lasted for a year. Following fresh elections, the NDA government, again headed by Vajpayee, lasted for a full term in office. Despite being a Pracharak (activist) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vajpayee made genuine peace overtures towards Pakistan. He visited Lahore on a “peace bus”, recited his epic poem Hum Jang Nahin Hone Dainge (we will not let war prevail) and even instituted the Composite Dialogue Process to ring in peace between Pakistan and India. Alas, all his efforts were in vain.

The current Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi cut his teeth as the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat. Under his watch, the 2002 Gujarat riots were orchestrated, following a false flag operation of the torching of a train in Godhra on 27 February 2002, which caused the deaths of 58 Hindu pilgrims karsevaks (worshippers) returning from Ayodhya, where in 1992, the historic Babri Mosque had been demolished on the plea that it had been built on the site of a Ram Temple. The torching of the train is cited as having instigated the violence. More than 2000 Muslims were slaughtered, women raped and their houses and place of business razed to the ground. During the riots, state police did not aid the victims, but reportedly supported the looters and vandals. The gruesome massacre earned Modi the dubious title of “The Butcher of Gujarat”.

Unfortunately, in 2014, the extremist Indian Hindus chose to vote Modi into government, because he promised them the supremacy of Hindus and Muslims and other ethnic minorities being subjugated and crushed into submission.

The same Indian Constitution, whose promulgation is celebrated with fanfare every 26 January, was made a mockery of on August 5, 2019 when its Articles 350 and 35A, which provided a special status to the disputed Jammu and Kashmir were rescinded: Kashmir and Ladakh were amalgamated into Indian territory. Indian Occupied Kashmir was placed in a state of lockdown to prevent protest rallies. Kashmiri Muslims breaking the curfew were shot on sight. The lockdown still persists.

Emboldened by the obliviousness of the world towards Indian reign of terror in Kashmir, in December 2019, Modi introduced the draconian Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizenship (NRC) to marginalise Muslims in India.

Extremist Hindus do not tire of swearing vengeance from Muslims because their ancestors, the Moghuls, Afghans, Turks and Timurids had invaded and ruled India for centuries. They prefer to ignore the fact that the Muslim rulers were benevolent towards the Hindus and encouraged religious freedom.

Indian Hindus have never forgiven the invasion by Muslims and the division of the Indian Subcontinent in 1947 into Pakistan and India following the egress of the British Empire. Fanatic Hindus considered it to be a desecration of “Mother India” and have sworn not to rest till Akhund Bharat (Greater India) is restored. Following the partition of India in 1947, caravans of Muslim refugees headed for Pakistan and freedom were pounced upon by hordes of fanatical Hindus, who looted, raped and slaughtered them. India has been to war with Pakistan thrice and in 1971, through its machinations, it severed its Eastern Wing, creating Bangladesh.

In its latest bid to execute ethnic cleansing of Muslims, the genocide of Muslims is being encouraged and propagated. Earlier, under the pretext of its practice of Gau Rakshak (protection of cows), Muslims are being lynched and killed for partaking or selling beef since cows are considered sacred by Hindus. Now by a decree, Hindus are prohibited from purchasing goods and services from Muslims or offering them employment. Every effort is being made to drive the Muslims against the wall, so they are forced to leave India or denounce their religion.

Low caste Hindus, known as Dalit, have also been the object of scorn and cruelty by high caste Hindus. It is ironic that Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, a Dalit activist, was also the principal author of the Indian Constitution, yet the Dalit have been persecuted by Hindus. Numerous Dalit entered the fold of Islam to avoid the brutality meted out to them by high caste Hindus. Modi has introduced another draconian law titled Ghar Wapsi (return to the fold), by virtue of which those Dalit that converted to Islam or Christianity, must denounce their new religion or they will be severely dealt with.

Besides the Muslims and Dalit, another prominent Indian minority, the Sikhs have also been brutally persecuted by Hindus. In 1984, then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi stormed the most sacred Sikh place of worship, the Golden Temple in which thousands of Sikh pilgrims were massacred. In retaliation, two of Indira Gandhi’s Sikh security guards assassinated her. Resultantly, over 8,000 Sikhs were massacred by angry mobs in retaliatory violence. Thousands of Sikhs were forced to flee for their lives to Europe, Canada or the USA. Even now Sikhs are being persecuted with high-handed legislation. Recently, ridiculous farm laws were introduced to hurt them, because the Indian agriculture sector is dominated by Sikhs.

While India may celebrate its Republic Day with joy and aplomb, its minorities will be observing it as Black Day because their very existence is being threatened contrary to the guarantees in their Constitution.

The writer is a former Group Captain PAF and an author