CONSTITUTION NEEDS OVERHAUL

CONSTITUTION NEEDS OVERHAUL

Dr K Prabhakar Rao


Indian constitution drafted by the constitution assembly and approved by the leaders on behalf of this nation has out lived its utility and needs thorough overhaul if not scrapping all together. When equipment needs too many repairs that is not cost effective, it is generally scrapped. Similarly when the equipment is outdated and does not satisfy the requirements of the latest needs is also weeded out as outdated. In some cases such items are retained in museums too. Indian constitution is no different. It is no doubt out dated, written with short sight, accepted in hurry and amended N no. of times for circumventing the obstacles enroute. It is time it is sent to a museum to be stored along with ancient scriptures written on palm leaves. The correct place for it is the Library established at Tanjore by the great illustrious Maratha ruler Sharabhoji II who was the king of Tanjavur kingdom and a great person who patronized arts and literature. He was a man of letters. The dynasty was founded by Venkoji, step brother of great Chatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj who established Hindu empire in Maharashtra in 17 century.
The Indian leaders have not left any stone unturned since the granting of independence by the Englishmen in exploiting the people through caste, creed, language, regional feelings and religion. The leaders can be counted on fingers who cared for national spirit and remained loyal to national well being. Gone are the old days where there was some national spirit. Usually the names of Gandhi, Nehru and Patel are narrated and pushed down throats of kids at school who belonged to this category. Name of subhas Chandra Bose is safely forgotten. The constitutional assembly framed something in black and white so that the people could practice some civilized form of governing. They took good things from practicing democracies and probably that was the best they could do in the available time. On the other front, they did not anticipate and foresee the degradation that would be engulfing the Indian leadership in the coming years. In fact the power hungry leaders who hastened the declaration of independence by short cuts were waiting like vultures at the dying animal eager to devour into bits of bones as soon as the spirit left the animal. Whatever little morals were left soon vanished after Gandhi’s death and after Shastris death every thing was bizarre and was free for all. Every one wanted power by hook or crook Dynastic succession of Nehru family drove the last nail in the coffin of Indian democracy. It has remained a name sake democracy while every thing centered on a nucleus wielding power by virtue of family name. Although MK Gandhi led congress party to freedom, the spirit disappeared after his death and name of Gandhi remained only for exploitation of masses. Sanjeeva Reddy, Atulya Ghosh, Nijaingappa, Morarji Desai , SK Patil, Krishna Kant, Chadrasekhar parted ways with congress due to politicking and Indira Gandhi was instrumental in destroying the democratic functioning in the country. . Under her leadership, factional feuds, regional hatred, and bickering, degradation of moral values in politics have come to stay and became part and parcel of Indian democracy. From then onwards, there was no looking back. Destruction of democratic system was complete. Indians have mastered the art of politicking without national interest and the country has been reduced to the state of political chaos although India claims that it is a mature democracy in the world on par with any western country. These are disgusting comparisons.
Where does the mistake lie for today’s situation? Obviously the fall in public standards, hunger for power, and lack of moral values in all walks of life are the root causes for the downfall. Senior citizens claimed that Gandhi warned after independence that blind practice of purely western methods would spell doom to the country and he even recommended dissolution of Congress party and probably he knew the power hungry jackals waiting at the grave. If these were true, then credit must go to Gandhi for the fore thought and for the warning he gave. However Gandhi was already becoming an embarrassment for the rulers. His advice went over deaf ears. Alas! The poor old man was sent to heavens with a pistol shot probably to a great relief to most of the leadership who might thought that Gandhi was a pain in the neck and a sore at wrong place and that his role was over. Nehru who wielded much clout in masses carried on the burden till 1964 not before completely bungling the Kashmir and Chinese affairs. The nation has been gifted the eternal sores to bleed like Kashmir and Chinese Problem by his much glorified vision. With Shastris death all was over. It became free for all. A new era was unleashed with Indira Gandhi donning the mantle and she soon imposed emergency with the help of a puppet President. Mushrooming of alternate parties became a trend to capture power. The first Janata government was successful in throwing out congress rule. But the ambition of Morarji Desai and Charan Singh and Raj Narain ruined the new government and she returned to power. She being a great manipulator projected and boosted up Sant Bhiderwale in Punjab and soon the devil tried to devour the master. The result was military action on Golden Temple and subsequent killing of Mrs. Gandhi by her guards. Massacres of Sikhs around Delhi was the outcome soon with generating of bad blood between the communities. Even today, the culprits are not punished and the trials became a joke on the nation. Akalidal established its grip over Punjab. Release of Mandal report by PM VP singh divided the society very seriously and boosted the caste politics. This gave birth to Bahujans and kanshirams who soon entrenched themselves in society. Caste divisions in society became complete.

In south India, Tamils always tried to maintain their identity and refused to merge. Periyar Ramaswamy naikar in the early years after independence even threatened secession from Indian union over imposition of Hindi and threatened that he would establish a separate Tamil country. The leadership in Delhi hurriedly backtracked. Tamils alienated from congress party. Local parties such as DMK and AIDMK came up and Congress was vanquished and thrown out lock stock and barrel. Identity crisis resulted in mushrooming of local and regional parties throughout India. North Eastern States became a head ache with increase in terrorist actions for creation of separate home lands for Bodos, Gurkhas, Nagas, Hill tribes. Demands for separate states came up in Maharashtra, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh. All these are at the cost of national spirit. In AP, Telugu Desam party captured power and sent Congress party on wild goose chase for nearly two decades However congress party returned to power recently owing to the political mistakes of the party.

Bharatayeea Janata Party although came to power could not continue for very long and soon Congree returned to power. Rajiv Gandhi became a victim of LTTE after his unwise attempt of interfering in Lankan political scene. He was also blamed for Bofors scam. Although he has been absolved some time ago after his death, skeletons are obviously hidden in Delhi’s cupboards. Some day they might roll out. The Govt of PV Narsimha Rao did balancing act after for five years. During last elections although BJP reasonably did well, Congress party formed government at center with support of nuts and bolts. BJP however has become national party and posing a great challenge to the congress. However BJP is still seen as a Hindutva party and all other parties including Communists gang up to keep it out of power. To shed the image BJP also has wooed the minorities and with this its credibility as a party that would strive for Hinduism has been affected. Probably this is one of the reason for its failure to capture power at enter. Muslims abet their philosophy to a very great extent. Congress has succeeded playing minority card in this direction. The smaller parties have not overcome their narrow outlook and are tied down by their outdated ideologies, narrow anticipated gains than national outlook. Their life’s ambition appears to keep BJP out of power They became slaves for dynasties and wait patiently for small morsels of food and bits of bread thrown at them by the Congress party. A person like Somanth Chatterjee who donned Communism for decades stuck to his chair and was expelled by the party. Obviously he was after chair and perks and these were greater than party ideology for him. The regional parties that win few seats in center play murky games and there is a necessity of keeping them out of center.

In Western countries, the society is not divided on caste basis and people are literate. In India elections are won on dynastic faith, past laurels, caste, creed, religion, regional feelings Linguistic ideologies and all other extraneous considerations. Too many parties are not allowed. If regional parties can not be banned at center, they should be banned from participating in forming the government. Only national parties must be allowed to vote at center in forming government. Caste based parties should be banned along with communal parties. Those who preach sedition should be promptly banned from contesting for any place and should be tried for treason. Their dirty acts can be stopped by such methods. The ideal system is to have two party democracy as recommended by Dr Abdul Kalam, the illustrious past President for which obviously he was not given second term. The constitution must be changed to cater for this requirement and all useless people must be prevented from contesting. Any one with criminal record should be shown the gate. Those facing serious prosecution charges should be banned till he is cleared. The post of PM or President should not be held for more than two terms in his life time and no ministerial post including PM and President should be accessible to a person of foreign birth. He has to be a citizen by virtue of birth in India. It is being practiced in western nations too. Unless such provisions are made future of India would-be at stake. Future of India is in our hands and no outside country would help us in solving our problems. The nation should be rescued from the hands of power hungry jackals who are devoid of national spirit and taking the country to its destruction in coming years. This has to be done through changing the constitution. This is a naked truth.