Foundational values, the journey of the Indian state

On the 75th anniversary of the coming into effect of the Constitution of India, it is imperative to evaluate the journey of the Indian state from the perspective of its foundational values before we plan the course ahead. After nearly three years of debate and deliberation, the Constituent Assembly of the newly independent India adopted its founding document, the Constitution of India. It is strange that given how integral federalism has been to the constitutional discourse over the last 50 years or so, the word ‘federal’ is nowhere to be found in the text of the Constitution. It has become a common trope among the social right to suggest replacement of the present-day Constitution with an ‘Indic’ constitutional document drawing from Hindu dharmic concepts — there can be no greater insult to the combined intellect of the Constituent Assembly than this. Rather than reinventing the wheel of the Constitution, the country must respond to Dr. Ambedkar’s calls to defend our democratic principles and preserve the Constitution.