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January/February 2000

President K.R. Narayanan’s address
on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Republic of India
Central Hall of Parliament, January 27, 2000

It gives me great pleasure to
be here amidst you at this sol-
emn function to mark the
Golden Jubilee Celebrations of
the birth of the Indian Republic
and the commencement of our
Constitution. The establish-
ment of the democratic Re-
public of India was obviously,
a significant and glorious
event for India, for the free-
dom and welfare of the hun-
dreds and millions of its
people. But it was also a world
event of far-reaching significance. People talk about the
triumph of democracy in the world against other forms
of Government. For that triumphal outcome, democ-
racy in India has had a meaningful part to play not in the
way of taking part in the ideological cold war, but in the
sense of setting an over powering example to the world.

What Sir Anthony Eden, the Prime Minister of Britain,
said at the time of the emergence of Indian Republic is
relevant in this context. “Of all the experiments in gov-
ernment, which have been attempted since the begin-
ning of time, | believe thatsthe Indian venture into par-
liamentary government is the most exciting. A vast sub-
continent is attempting to apply to its tens and thou-
sands of millions a system of free democracy... It is a
brave thing to try to do so. The Indian venture is not a
pale imitation of our practice at home, but a magnified
and multiplied reproduction on a scale we have never
dreamt of. If it succeeds, its influence on Asia is incal-
culable for good. Whatever the outcome we must honour
those who attempt it.”

Even more meaningful was the opinion expressed by an
American Constitutional authority, Prof. Granville Aus-
tin who wrote that, what the Indian Constituent Assem-
bly began was “perhaps the greatest political venture
since that originated in Philadelphia in 1787.”

Mahatma Gandhi had visualized the new Constitution of
India in terms of universal values applied to the specific
and special conditions of India. As early as 1931 he had
written “I shall strive for a Constitution which will release
India from thraldom and patronage. | shall work for an

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India in which the poorest shall feel that it is their coun-
try in whose making they have an effective voice: an
India in which there is no high class or low class of
people, an India in which all communities shall live in
perfect harmony. There can be no room in such an India
for the curse of untouchability. We shall be at peace with
the rest of the world neither exploiting nor exploited. All
interests not in conflict with the interests of the dumb
millions will be scrupulously respected whether foreign
or indigenous. Personally, | hate the distinction between
foreign and indigenous. This is the India of my dreams
for which I shall struggle”.

At the core of the Constitution lies the essence of this
Gandhian dream in the form of social justice and social
democracy. Prof. Granville Austin has described the In-
dian Constitution as “first and foremost a social docu-
ment”. He further explained that “the majority of India’s
constitutional provisions are either directly arrived at
furthering the aim of social revolution or attempt to fos-
ter this revolution by establishing conditions necessary
for its achievement”. The very same point was elabo-
rated in eloquent terms by Dr. Ambedkar and Pandit
Nehru. What makes our Constitution relevant to the con-
ditions and the problems of India and the developing
world as a whole, is, in fact, the socio-economic soul of
it. Its uniqueness is that it has combined this harmoni-
ously with the liberal rights and freedoms as conceived
by the Western democracies.

It is after deep thought and considerable debate that the
founding fathers adopted the philosophy and the form of
Government for India. Speaking on the draft of the Con-
stitution Dr. Ambedkar claimed that “It is workable, it is
flexible and it is strong enough to hold the country to-
gether both in peace time and in war time. Indeed, if |
may say so, if things go wrong under the new Constitu-
tion, the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitu-
tion. What we will have to say is that Man is vile”. Today
when there is so much talk about revising the Constitu-
tion or even writing a new Constitution, we have to con-
sider whether it is the Constitution that has failed us or
whether it is we who have failed the Constitution. Dr.
Rajendra Prasad, as President of the Constituent Assem-
bly, had pointed out: “If the people who are elected are

See PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS, Page 2