Samvidhan Divas: Celebration along with Call to Duty

November 26th is a sacred day for each citizen.  It’s  the day when the architects of modern India gave their whole heart and mind to frame this Constitution. This document which took 2 years 11 months and  18 days is not just a book of laws, or mere papers but the soul of our nation. 

We celebrate its wisdom, its checks and balances, and moreover the power it gives us and to the state.

But can I be blunt for a second?

Celebration without introspection is just a noise.

Even Ravindranath Tagore argued that the real India will only be realised when our “mind is without fear” and the “world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls.”

The introspection we need today is to compare the reality of our current divisions—the linguistic wars, the regional bias, the communal hatred incited for the political gains.

Today most of us will see this date with pride in their eyes.

But I feel the sadness coupled with sense of responsibility and introspection regarding how far we have truly upheld the ideals even today.

I will tell you couple of my experiences...

Everyday I walk by the streets, what I observe is people throwing wrappers on the clean road, even when the dustbin is just beside them.

This is the classic example of "even though there are provisions for doing good, we still choose to do wrong."

Number of times, I see few kids holding pens or  balloons in their hand selling on the roadside. They ain't even selling them. They just roam and ask strangers to feed them.

This urge me to ask their parents, why their hands are left for begging on the streets instead of holding books. Then we keep boasting about the Article 21 A, Article 45 and provisions like these. 

We have plenty of legislation. But the responsibility lies to us.

This constitution is not a unilateral game of responsibility to just one person or one party or a state.

This poses the collective work of us as a society too.

When we talk about fundamental rights, we do need to understand the equal importance and responsibilities of fundamental duties along with Directives principal of state policy.

In one more instance, while I was standing nearby, a small girl holding bunch of balloons in her hand was pushed so hard by the owner of the shop that she was about to fall. while people out there are standing and just watching.

This is where we need to feel the empathy, responsibility, and moral obligation to intervene. 

This constitution is not just guidelines of provisions, acts and rules.  It tells us to inculcate the empathy and love towards people and things. 

In the Article 39(b) gives The Idea of Empathy/Love for Community.

Article 48 A explains the concept of empathy beyond humans.

Without empathy and ethics we as a human are nothing. 

Today, due to various political agendas, people are swaying away in the fight of linguistic basis.

I mean why is this even the point of friction ? 

Even the Preamble starts with: 

“WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA.

It doesn't say "We, the Marathis, Tamils, or Punjabis." It demands a collective identity not the particular community hegemony.

People are facing discrimination just because of the state where they belongs from.

A lot of example are there where people from BIHAR are bullied. And they call the term Bihari as derogatory.

Infact the people working in any corner from Bihar seeking a livelihood for "Do waqt ki roti" face the huge discrimination which was evident in a recent video.

By doing this we violate the spirit of Article 19, which guarantees citizens the right to reside and settle in any part of India and the dignity and equality promised in Article 14.

The Constitution gives you rights, but it is Empathy that makes those rights real for someone who looks or speaks differently than you. 

When a fellow Indian feels like an outsider in an Indian city, we have all failed.

On this Constitutional Day, let us internalize the spirit of the Preamble. We must look away from the pompous celebration and look inward.  

The question is not whether the Constitution is strong enough. The question is whether WE are good enough, and dedicated enough, to keep its sacred and purity alive to eternity. 

देश प्रेम, सिर्फ़ नारे लगाने में नहीं, संविधान के पन्नों पर लिखे हर नागरिक के अधिकार और सम्मान की रक्षा करने में है। 

Happy Constitution Day !